BATON ROUGE — LSU junior guard Allison Hightower matched a career-high with 19 points, but Middle Tennessee guard Alysha Clark poured in a game-high 37 points to deal to the LSU women’s basketball team a 79-75 loss to the Blue Raiders on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Lady Tigers (1-3) saw a double-digit second half lead evaporate and lost two home games in a row for the first time since the 1995-96 season. LSU dropped consecutive games to No. 22 Florida and Arkansas that year. Middle Tennessee (5-1) won its fourth straight game and first road contest of the year.
“We just haven’t been able to follow through,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “Our young team just cannot seem to put it all together just yet. We have great kids and players, and they want to learn. It is fixable though.”
Hightower was an efficient 8-of-12 from the field with six rebounds while playing nearly all 40 minutes. Freshman forward LaSondra Barrett reached double-figures for the first time in her career with 15 points, five boards and three steals.
However, Clark stole the show on Sunday afternoon with a shooting spree from all over the court. The reigning Sun Belt Player of the Week came into the contest averaging 22.4 points per game. She finished 14-of-20 from the field and added eight points from the free throw line while contributing 12 rebounds.
Middle Tennessee entered the game having made 52-of-140 (.371) 3-point shots on the season, and the Blue Raiders perimeter game once again proved to be the difference.
LSU held a 37-31 lead on Middle Tennessee at the half thanks to a 10-0 run and defense that limited the Blue Raiders to only two made 3-pointers on eight attempts. Clark and fellow guard Anne Marie Lanning heated up in the second half and combined for 34 points in the final period.
Lanning was 4-of-4 from 3-point range, two nights after burying seven from beyond the arc in a win over Arizona. Brandi Brown added three 3-pointers of her own.
The Lady Tigers held their largest lead, 41-31, when Latear Eason converted a Katherine Graham steal for a layup to start the second half.
Middle Tennessee then mounted a 17-7 run over the next seven minutes. Lanning tied the contest at 48-48 when she buried the second of two straight 3-pointers, but LSU answered with one of its four made shots from the beyond the arc when junior guard Andrea Kelly gave the Lady Tigers the lead again at the 11:20 mark of the second half.
In a game that featured 24 lead changes and 10 ties, the Blue Raiders regained the lead when Brown knocked down another 3-pointer to make it 72-69 with 3:57 to go.
Eason helped LSU erase the three-point deficit and handed the Lady Tigers a slim lead when she recorded a steal and found Kristen Morris for an open jumper. On the following possession, Eason came up with another steal that led to an easy layup at the other end and a 75-74 LSU advantage with 1:09 remaining.
Lanning then provided the Blue Raiders the lead for good, 77-75, when she connected for her fourth 3-pointer 10 seconds later.
“What hurt us the most is the fact that one of our freshmen left Lanning wide open,” Chancellor said. “When we were up one point with one minute to go, we give a great shooter a wide open 3-pointer. We did the same thing with Notre Dame.”
LSU held for the last shot of the game, but Clark delivered again, this time on the defensive end of the floor when she blocked a Barrett shot attempt on the base line with five seconds to play. Lanning iced the game on two made free throws to preserve the 79-75 margin.
LSU shot 46 percent (29-of-63) from the floor and was 4-of-8 from 3-point range. The Lady Tigers forced 22 turnovers while only committing 11 of their own. Meanwhile, Middle Tennessee shot a blistering 65 percent (17-of-26) from the field in the second half to finish at 58 percent (30-of-52) for the game.
The Blue Raiders outrebounded LSU, 34-27, and were 10-of-11 from the free throw line.
The Lady Tigers play again at 7 p.m. CST Monday in rare back-to-back days of games at the Maravich Center. LSU welcomes Texas Southern (1-2) and head coach Yolanda Wells-Broughton, who served as an assistant on Chancellor’s Final Four staff last season.
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
On defense of Middle Tennessee in second half…
“We had a game plan, but we didn’t really execute it correctly. They put two types of players up, and we weren’t really executing that.”
On mindset of team going from the first half to the second half…
“The team is changing their game plan at half time, and they’re executing it. We come out for the second half and we don’t do what we’re supposed to do. That’s on us. We have to work on our discipline.”
On mood of locker room after game…
“It was a disappointment. Coach just told us what we weren’t doing. We have another game tomorrow, so we have to prepare for Texas Southern. That’s all we can do right now.”
On playing competitive nonconference teams early in season…
“It definitely helps. As long as we get better every day, that’s all we can do. It’s definitely going to help us in the long run.”
On defending Alysha Clark…
“She was tough to guard. Our original game plan was to three-quarter court her. During the game, we had to set up a trap on her. We could have defended her better, but we just didn’t execute and that’s our fault. We need to focus and concentrate for our next game.”