BATON ROUGE — Playing in her final home game, senior guard Allison Hightower scored 26 points and the 20th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team rolled to a 76-47 win over Mississippi State in the regular season finale on Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The win coupled with a Vanderbilt loss to South Carolina gives the Lady Tigers (20-8, 9-7 SEC) the No. 4 seed and a first round bye in next week’s Southeastern Conference Tournament, that gets underway on Thursday in Duluth, Ga. It represents the ninth straight season LSU has earned a first round bye, which is the longest streak in the league.
LSU will play at 5:30 p.m. CST/6:30 p.m. EST Friday in the Gwinnett Center against an opponent still to be determined. The first two days of the tournament will be televised by Fox Sports South/Southwest.
Hightower’s final game in the Maravich Center fittingly ended with her 100th career victory in an LSU uniform. She finished 10-of-18 from the floor, grabbed six rebounds and tallied her sixth 20-plus point game in the past 10 contests.
“It’s been a long road,” Hightower said. “I feel like I’ve been here for a long time. Just a lot has gone on here. I got to enjoy Final Fours, NCAA Tournaments, playing with veteran players. It just feels good to me and this experience is something I’ll never forget. I’ll always be a Lady Tiger forever, so I’m just happy right now.”
“I told her I was really proud for her,” LSU head coach Van Chancellor said. “When I accepted this program, there were a lot of people trying to decide who was going to stay and who was going to go. Allison decided to stay and I told her today, ‘This is the way to go out. Win really big and play the game of your life.’ This is what you want for a senior.”
Hightower entered Sunday’s play as the SEC’s third overall leading scorer, trailing Ole Miss’ Bianca Thomas and Mississippi State Alexis Rack. Rack was completely shut down by LSU, including point guard Destini Hughes, who held the Franklin, La., native to seven points on 2-of-12 shooting to go along with four turnovers.
“I thought Destini Hughes did the best job on Alexis Rack, who I think is one of the best players in our league,” Chancellor said. “She did one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen on one individual. Rack probably scares me at the guard position as much as anybody. This was a great effort.”
LSU’s LaSondra Barrett contributed 14 points and seven rebounds. Katherine Graham continued her late surge with a terrific all around game that featured nine points, seven boards, six assists, three blocks and three steals in 34 minutes.
LSU never trailed, taking it right to the Lady Bulldogs with 12 unanswered points in the game’s first six minutes. Hightower drove coast-to-coast for a layup and then stole the ball from Rack on the sideline, which allowed Graham an easy layup. Barrett’s two free throws ended the run, 12-0, in favor of the Lady Tigers with 14:38 to go in the first half.
Chanel Mokango got Mississippi State (18-11, 9-7) on the board with a jumper at the 14:22 mark, but Hightower immediately answered with the first of two 3-pointers. LSU’s 3-point barrage continued when Hughes drained one from the right elbow and Hightower added another trey to extend the lead to 36-10.
LSU dominated the first half and took a commanding 42-16 advantage into halftime.
Hightower scored another layup, and Graham’s two free throws at the 12:45 mark in the second half gave LSU’s its largest lead of the game, 56-20.
Hightower’s final field goal in the Maravich Center was a layup that gave LSU a 33-point margin, 66-33. She added a free throw 20 seconds later and was lifted by Chancellor to a standing ovation of nearly 4,000 in attendance. Hightower waved to the crowd one final time.
“It’s just a little bit of everything,” Hightower said of her Senior Day. “Excitement, just happy to see everybody and all the support and all my family and friends came out and supported me on my senior day. It’s kind of bittersweet, kind of sad, and also exciting.”
LSU finished at 46.3 percent for the game and held Mississippi State to 29.3 percent shooting. The Lady Tigers converted 18 MSU turnovers into 31 points.
LSU POSTGAME QUOTES
Head Coach Van Chancellor
Opening statement…
“Six games ago, I didn’t think we had one foot in the grave. I did not think we were quite on life support, but I think the family had thought about calling in the priest to see if we were going to make it or not. All of a sudden, in the last six games, this team has played some great basketball. Just defensively, it’s been unbelievable. We’ve had five games where our defense has been as good as it’s been since I’ve been at LSU. Tennessee was a good game; they’re just too big for us. Today was an unbelievable game. I thought Destini Hughes did the best job on Alexis Rack, who I think is one of the best players in our league. She did one of the best jobs I’ve ever seen on one individual. Rack probably scares me at the guard position as much as anybody. This was a great effort. I’m glad to see Allison Hightower go out on this kind of night. Who would have ever thought that LSU would be drawing a bye in the Southeastern Conference [Tournament] Friday?”
On what he told Hightower with a minute left in the game…
“I told her I was really proud for her. When I accepted this program, there were a lot of people trying to decide who was going to stay and who was going to go. Allison decided to stay and I told her today, ‘This is the way to go out. Win really big and play the game of your life.’ This is what you want for a senior.”
On replacing Hightower…
“I think she’s going to be the most difficult player to be replaced here in a long time. I think she’s the best defensive player in the league. Today it might be Destini Hughes. I don’t think there’s a greater challenge for a team to replace a player than LSU replacing Allison Hightower.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
Guard Allison Hightower
On getting the 100th win of her career today…
“That’s a lot of games if you really think about it. I’m just excited we got the win and that I could leave here, the PMAC, on a good note”
On her emotions throughout the day…
“It’s just a little bit of everything. Excitement, just happy to see everybody and all the support and all my family and friends came out and supported me on my senior day. It’s kind of bittersweet, kind of sad, and also exciting.”
On her career at LSU…
“It’s been a long road. I feel like I’ve been here for a long time. Just a lot has gone on here. I got here, I got to enjoy final fours, NCAA Tournaments, playing with veteran players… it just feels good to me and this experience is something I’ll never forget. I’ll always be a Lady Tiger forever, so I’m just happy right now.”
On how they played today…
“We just played together tonight. We just played team basketball on both ends of the floor, offensively and defensively. We just wanted to come out here and play our hearts out. It’s our last game. We just wanted to come out here and dominate, and I think that’s what we did.”
Guard Destini Hughes
On guarding Mississippi State’s Alexis Rack…
“My role was to not let her get any threes off. They wanted me to play hard-nosed defense on her because she was good at taking one dribble on the left and pulling up, and so I was just trying to play close. The overall team defense was hedge hard on the ball screen. We put all that together.”
On if the underclassmen felt it was important to win in Hightower’s last home game…
“Yes, it’s definitely very important. We know she gives 110 percent each time. She puts so much into this program. One of the things we said when we started moving up was ‘Let’s go out with a bang.’ In my mind, I wanted to play really hard to win this game and I specifically wanted to win for her.”
MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH SHARON FANNING-OTIS
Opening Statement …
“I think if you look at the LSU team after that Ole Miss game, there is something that they embraced. I am not sure what they talked about but it looks like they picked up after that game. As you play against a team like LSU that guards you hard inside of half-court game and inside three-point range they do a great job. Their hands are on the ball and they rebound hard. They are a very patient offensive team and I think they did a great job. They executed their game-plan well. In the first few minutes of the game you set a pace relative to shots falling. If you rush some things, take contested shots, don’t get offensive rebounds, don’t go to the free throw line and you don’t have scrap and don’t get a loose ball that is a mindset. That accumulates in a first half so it puts a game in a position that is very tough to come back.
“I just felt that we didn’t play as hard or execute as well as we need to. To LSU’s credit I felt that they made a lot of things happen and we have to execute better. Hopefully our light will come on, that switch will be flipped. We have an opportunity now. It is a whole new season when you go into the SEC tournament. You have to play well at this time of the year and I was disappointed in us competing today, but I think you have to give the credit to LSU relative to their execution and their teamwork. Hopefully we can match that and we can improve during the tournament and find a way to win some ballgames.”
On the game-plan to stop Allison Hightower …
“Whether we are in a man or trying to match up she penetrates so well. We had an opportunity to take two or three charges, but if you don’t get there in time to take them she is going to play her very best game because she knows how to get to the rim. She does a lot of things well. She was a very good leader for her team and she is one of the best players in our league. You are going to have to do something special to take a great player out of the game. It is going to have to be very consistent. Sometimes you know that you can’t necessarily keep them from doing everything. You give her credit for doing what she does well.
“One thing I noticed about her is I think her three-point percent is picking up and I think her confidence is there. The whole team, if you look at this team from last year and the experience they gained and they added some depth. They have a lot more confidence in each other’s shooting but Allison is a special player. One thing I like about her so much is she plays so hard on both ends of the floor. She is a key defender, she is a long and this is a long team. They are very ‘handsy’ on the ball and they will get after you. For the senior on the team that is what you expect. You expect them to be inspired and to be their best when it gets closer to crunch time because they won’t have this opportunity any more. That is a credit to Allison for the type of person she is and the consistency she has shown in one of the toughest leagues in the country. She deserves the honors and recognition she has gotten.”