FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — LSU’s 12th-ranked Lady Tigers overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat Arkansas 73-65 and extend their win streak to a school record 15 straight on Thursday night in Bud Walton Arena.
Arkansas (13-4, 2-2 SEC) had a 42-26 lead with 17:14 left in the game before LSU (16-2, 4-0 SEC) finally chipped away and took its first lead 67-65 with 1:18 left and held on for the victory.
The Lady Tigers finished the game on a 13-0 run after the Lady Razorbacks had a 65-60 lead with 3:53 to play.
“Like coach Gunter said in the locker room ‘This is one of the most gratifying wins in a long time at LSU’,” LSU associate coach said. “We had great execution in the second half after really struggling with things in the first both offensively and defensively.”
LSU trailed 33-23 in the first half after shooting just 37.0 percent from the floor and having Arkansas hit 51.9 percent of its shots. Arkansas also nailed three 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes of play and had as much as a 15-point lead.
The main keys to LSU’s comebacks were free throws. The Lady Tigers, which failed to go to the line in the first half, connected on 22 of 25 shots from the line in the second half. Seimone Augustus, who finished the game with 22 points, hit all 10 of her attempts from the line.
Doneeka Hodges added 15 points to the victory, while Temeka Johnson added 12 points and 11 assists for her fourth double double.
Shameka Christon led Arkansas with 27 points and Kristin Moore had 19.
LSU kept pace with Tennessee, who defeated Vanderbilt on Thursday 79-54, and are a half game out of first-place in the Southeastern Conference standings. The Lady Tigers will put their school-record 15-game win streak on the line Sunday at Georgia at 4 p.m. in Stegeman Coliseum.