STARKVILLE, Miss. — LSU’s sixth-ranked women’s basketball team needed a 22-2 run late in the second half to hold off Mississippi State, 64-49, on Sunday afternoon to complete the Southeastern Conference regular season 14-0 and claim an outright league title.
Mississippi State (16-13, 4-10 SEC) trailed 30-18 at the half, but rattled off a 22-12 run to tie the score at 42-42 with 11:50 left in the game. LSU (25-4, 14-0 SEC) then scored 22 of the next 24 points over a 10 minute span to pull away for the victory.
“I am really pleased with this team for reaching the goal of getting an outright league title,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “We were in good shape early and we let them back in, but we found a way to win at the end.”
The Lady Tigers jumped out to an early lead once again. This time it was 11-0 before Mississippi State got on the board with just over 12 minutes left in the first half.
Sylvia Fowles led LSU with 20 points and 12 rebounds in a record-breaking performance. With her double double, the 6-6 senior center became the SEC’s all-time leader in double doubles and with her fifth rebound she became LSU’s all-time rebound leader.
Fowles connected on 10 of 12 from the floor.
Quianna Chaney added 18 points, including four 3-pointers, while Erica White had 10 points, three assists and three steals.
Donnisha Tate and Alexis Rack each had 11 points to lead MSU, while Marneshia Richard added nine points, eight rebounds and five assists in the loss.
The outright league title is the third in four seasons for the Lady Tigers and LSU enters the SEC tournament as the No. 1 seed for the third time as well.
LSU shot 54.0 percent from the floor in the game, including 54.2 percent in the second half. The Lady Tigers held MSU to 37.0 percent from the floor, including 27.6 percent in the opening half.
The Lady Bulldogs won the battle on the boards, 33-29, but committed 18 turnovers that led to 19 LSU points.
The Lady Tigers will have a first-round bye in the SEC tournament and play the winner of the No. 8 seeded Ole Miss vs. No. 9 seeded Mississippi State first round game on Friday at noon CST.
GAME NOTES
Khalilah Mitchell started today’s game for the first start of her career, in place of RaShonta LeBlanc.
Sylvia Fowles became LSU’s all-time leader in rebounds when she grabbed her fifth of the game with 3:57 left in the first half. Fowles passed Julie Gross who held the record since 1980. Fowles finished the game with 12 rebounds to give the senior 1,474 for her career.
Fowles scored in double figures for the 26th game this season and the 116th game of her career with 20 points today. Fowles’ 20-point performance was the ninth of the season and the 36th of her career.
Fowles also became the SEC’s all-time leader in double doubles with her 20-12 performance. She collected her 79th to pass Janet Harris.
Quianna Chaney scored in double figures for the 24th game this season and the 63rd game of her career with 18 points today.
Erica White scored in double figures for the seventh game of the season and the 26th of her career with 10 points today.
LSU finished 14-0 in the SEC for the second time in school history and the second-time in four seasons.