FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Sylvia Fowles‘ school record 69th career double double led the 11th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team to a 76-54 victory at No. 20 Arkansas to open the Southeastern Conference season on Thursday night in Bud Walton Arena.
Fowles scored a game-high 18 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to become LSU’s (12-3, 1-0 SEC) career leader in double doubles, passing Julie Gross.
Quianna Chaney and Allison Hightower each scored 15 points, while Erica White dished out a season-high 12 assists. Chaney added six assists and RaShonta LeBlanc and Hightower both added five assists.
LSU jumped out early in the game, taking a 5-0 lead, all scored by Chaney, and then led 14-2 before Arkansas (15-1, 0-1 SEC) could manage a second field goal with 13:00 left in the half.
The Lady Tigers largest lead of the first half, 24 points, came at the 1:48 mark after a put back by Fowles that capped a 9-0 run. Arkansas then used a 5-0 run to cut the lead back to 19 before Hightower hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give LSU a 39-17 lead at the break.
“LSU was really dominating tonight,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We were outstanding defensively in the first half and overall we shot the ball extremely well in both halves and outrebounded a good rebounding team.”
Both teams scored 37 points in the second half, but LSU took a 25-point early in the second half, the largest of the game.
The Lady Tigers shot 54.0 percent from the floor for the game, hitting 34 of 63 field goals and dished out 32 assists, the second most by a Lady Tigers’ team in school history. LSU hit 62.1 percent on the second half.
LSU’s defense played solid again, holding Arkansas to 38.6 percent shooting from the floor in the game, including 28.0 percent in the first half. The Lady Tigers also forced 16 turnovers and converted those into 14 points.
Fowles’ 10 rebounds led LSU win the battle of the boards, 34-30.
Lauren Ervin led Arkansas with 13 points, while Brittney Vaughn added 12 and Ayana Brereton had 10. Whitney Jones pulled down 10 rebounds for the Lady Razorbacks.
LSU returns to Baton Rouge to host Vanderbilt in the SEC home open on Sunday at 4 p.m. CST in the Maravich Center.
GAME NOTES
– Quianna Chaney recorded the 51st double figure scoring game of her career and the 12th time this season with 15 points.
– Chaney moved up to 25th on LSU’s career scoring list with 15 points tonight. She now has 1,029 points in her career and passed Staci Brown and Rene Moran.
– Erica White moved into sixth-place on LSU’s career assist list with her 12 assists tonight. She now has 426 career assists and passed LeNette Caldwell.
– White recorded her first double figure assist game of the season with 12 tonight. It was the first double figure assist game for the senior point guard since she had 10 against Ole Miss on March 3, 2006.
– Sylvia Fowles scored in double figures for the 13th time this season and the 103rd time in her career with 18 points
– Fowles became the career leader at LSU in career double doubles when she collected her 69th in tonight’s game with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
– Allison Hightower scored in double figures for the 12th time of her career and the seventh this season with her 15 points tonight.
– LSU dished out 32 assists tonight, marking the first time since the Lady Tigers recorded 30 against Ohio on Dec. 18, 2002. The 32 assists are the tied for the second most by an LSU team in a game.