NEW ORLEANS — Sylvia Fowles‘ 17 points and 13 rebounds and Allison Hightower‘s 15 points led the eighth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team to a 52-36 victory over Tulane on Sunday afternoon in Fogelman Arena.
The Lady Tigers (6-2) also used stifling defense to shutdown the Green Wave (6-2).
“That was the most dominating defense performance in the first 34 minutes of basketball that I have seen,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “Anytime you can limit a team to 10 points in the first half is impressive and at one time they (Tulane) had 19 points with six minutes to play.”
LSU had its largest lead, 45-19, with 6:16 left to play before Tulane put up 15 points in the final six-plus minutes.
The Green Wave struggled in the first half, scoring just 10 points on 4-22 shooting from the floor. Tulane did not score its first points of the game until 9:53 left in the first half when Chassity Brown hit a 15 foot fall away jumper.
LSU scored 10 before Tulane cracked the scoring column. The Lady Tigers led 22-10 at the break after shooting 30.3 percent from the floor. After LSU had the 10-0 lead, Tulane did not get any closer than eight the rest of the way.
Tulane shot 25.5 percent from the floor for the game, including just 18.2 percent in the first half. LSU also forced 21 turnovers and collected 14 steals.
The Lady Tigers also struggled a little from the floor, shooting just 35.5 percent for the game.
In addition to Fowles and Hightower, Mesha Williams scored five points and grabbed seven rebounds.
Nikki Luckhurst led Tulane with nine points as LSU held all 14 Green Wave players out of double figures.
The Lady Tigers will take two weeks off for final exams. The next time LSU plays will be Dec. 16 at Louisiana Tech in Ruston.
Game notes
– Sylvia Fowles collected her 67th career double double with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Her 67 double doubles ties her with Kentucky’s Valerie Still for third-place on the SEC career double double list. Fowles is also now just one away from tying Julie Gross for the top spot on LSU’s career double double list.
– Allison Hightower reached double figures in scoring for the fourth time this season and the ninth time in her career with 15 points today.
– Erica White moved up to eighth-place on LSU’s career assist list with her four today. She entered the game with 383 and has 387, passing both Marie Ferdinand and Latasha Dorsey during today’s game.