BATON ROUGE — LSU junior guard Allison Hightower registered her first career double-double, but No. 25 Xavier broke a 42-42 tie with an 8-0 run in the final five minutes of the game to deal the LSU women’s basketball team its second loss, 57-48, on Wednesday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Lady Tigers (1-2) lost for only the second time at home in the month of November since 1981. LSU was previously 21-5 at home against ranked teams over the past seven seasons.
“It’s pretty frustrating tonight,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “You cannot shoot 32 percent (from the field), zero percent (3-point shots) and 63 percent (foul shots) and expect to win. This team we played tonight is going to be in the top 16 in the country at the end of the year. They didn’t play as good as I’ve seen them play. They played great against Louisville and North Carolina.”
Hightower followed up a career-best performance against Tulane with another stellar night as she scored a team-high 15 points and grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds with two steals. Freshman Courtney Jones nearly matched Hightower’s double-double with eight points and nine boards.
Fellow freshman Taylor Turnbow added eight points and five rebounds while blocking seven shots in an impressive defensive display. Turnbow’s seven blocks were the most by an LSU player since former All-American Sylvia Fowles blocked seven shots against Tennessee in the SEC Tournament on March 5, 2006.
Both teams struggled mightily offensively throughout as LSU shot only 32 percent (18-of-56) from the field and held the Musketeers to 36 percent (21-of-58) from the floor. The Lady Tigers still held a 24-19 halftime lead on Xavier despite the shooting woes.
Xavier’s Ta’Shia Phillips, the 2007-08 Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Year, picked up two quick fouls in the first two minutes of the game. Phillips was a non-factor in the first half with only two points in three minutes, but the sophomore center erupted for 10 points in the second half to lead the Muskeeters to the come-from-behind victory.
“Everything that we wanted to do tonight before the game like get Ta’Shia Phillips in foul trouble, come out early and play, we could never take advantage of that,” Chancellor said.
Xavier (3-2) erased a 24-19 LSU halftime lead with an 8-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half. Phillips had four points during the run and turned the deficit into a 27-24 advantage on a jumper at the 18:12 mark.
Both teams then went cold from the floor as LSU went without a field goal for over seven minutes until Jones ended the dry spell with a reverse layup to tie the contest at 40-40 with 5:29 remaining in the game.
With the game tied at 42 apiece, the Muskeeters then mounted their 8-0 run starting at the 3:00 mark. Dee Dee Jernigan had five of the eight points during the spurt. Jernigan made the front end of her free throws and missed her second, but Phillips broke through the lane and scored on a putback to give Xavier a 47-42 lead with 2:16 to play.
Turnbow then turned the ball over on the other end of the floor, and Jernigan immediately took advantage of the miscue when she buried a 3-pointer that gave the Muskeeters a 50-42 lead it would not relinquish in the final minute of play.
Xavier sank six free throws in the final 0:48 to preserve the victory.
Jernigan finished with a game-high 15 points on a 5-of-10 effort from the field with eight boards and two assists.
LSU also went over six minutes without field goal in the first half but finished the period with a 12-5 flurry that gave the Lady Tigers a 24-19 halftime lead. Hightower got LSU on the board when she followed a miss and scored at the 5:06 mark.
LaSondra Barrett and Turnbow added turnaround jumpers during the spurt, while Katherine Graham gave LSU its biggest lead with 37 seconds to play in the first half.
LSU and Xavier matched rebounds with 43 apiece, but the Muskeeters finished 4-of-15 from beyond the arc while the Lady Tigers were 0-of-8 from 3-point range.
LSU plays games on consecutive days beginning with Middle Tennessee at 1 p.m. CST Sunday in the Maravich Center. The Lady Tigers then play host to Texas Southern at 7 p.m. Monday.
LSU HEAD COACH VAN CHANCELLOR
Opening statement…
“Everything that we wanted to do tonight before the game like get Ta’Shia Phillips in foul trouble, come out early and play, we could never take advantage of that.”
On offensive execution …
“They get so nervous. We have simplified the plan. We have called things, but we just did not do it. After a timeout, we were tied up, had a shot to do it all and then, give up a foul and a free throw on a made shot and then, give up another three (pointer), and they (Xavier) turn it around with eight points just like that.”
On the game …
“It’s pretty frustrating tonight. I understand the Notre Dame game. It was the first game. I had a little too much in. I simplified it. We were nervous with a nationally-televised audience, and it was our first time out. Tonight, I thought we defended them really well, especially with her (Phillips) out of the game. All we had to do was just execute a little bit on offense, and we win.”
On Xavier…
“This team we played tonight is going to be in the top 16 in the country at the end of the year. They didn’t play as good as I’ve seen them play. They played great against Louisville and North Carolina.”
On the Lady Tigers’ struggles on offense…
“If you can’t even make one three-ball in the game, you’re not going to win the game. You cannot shoot 32 percent (from the field), zero percent (three-point shots) and 63 percent (foul shots) and expect to win.”
XAVIER HEAD COACH KEVIN MCGUFF QUOTES
On keeping Ta’Shia Phillips out of foul trouble in the second half …
“In the second half she did a great job of staying down and making people shoot over her. With the way the game started, the fouls took us out of our rhythm, but I was proud of our team for hanging in there, especially for Ta’Shia to be able to come back and have a terrific performance in the second half.”
On how his team responded and turned it around in the second half …
“That is probably the thing that I am happiest about is that we didn’t play well at all in the first half. We fouled too much and turned the ball over. We were able to gather ourselves at halftime and play a much better second half. When we attacked them things seemed to go our way, and we did much more of that in the second half.”
On why his team had more fouls called on them than LSU …
“Sometimes it is tough on the road. In all seriousness, I told our players at halftime there is a foul disparity and a lot of it has to do with us not playing aggressively. When we start to play and play our game, that stuff will be fine.”
On how the rhythm of his offense picked up when C Ta’Shia Phillips was on the court …
“We run so many things through Ta’Shia because she is such a great player, so we are certainly a different team when she is on the bench.”