BATON ROUGE, La. - Allison Hightower scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the first half as No. 5 LSU defeated the University of New Orleans 57-33 on Sunday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Center.
The win was the seventh straight to start the season for an LSU (7-0) team that has now won 32 straight games against opponents from the state of Louisiana. The 57 points represented the lowest offensive output on the season for the Lady Tigers, who entered the game scoring less than 70 points just once prior.
LSU struggled from the field outside of Hightower, with the Lady Tigers besides the senior guard hitting just 13 of 44 shots for a 29.5 percent clip.
UNO dropped to 6-4 on the season with the loss, their first in three games on the road this season. Talishia Young came off the bench to lead the Lady Privateers with nine points
An early 6-3 UNO lead quickly turned into LSU's favor as the Lady Tigers scored 11 straight points. Hightower had a hand in 9 of the 11 points during the run and 11 of LSU's first 13 points.
The run would last seven minutes before the Lady Privateers connected from the field again with a Candice McGee basket followed by a Brittany Helm three-pointer providing UNO a 5-0 run to cut the score to 14-11.
The Lady Privateers would stay within reach of LSU until the final two minutes of the opening half as the Lady Tigers scored the first half's final six points to take a 32-20 lead into the break. The 32 points represented the second-lowest first half output by LSU this year as UNO kept Hightower's teammates to 5 of 21 shooting from the field during the half.
Hightower continued from where she left off as the second half began, scoring four in a row and helping the Lady Tigers to a 6-0 run before Nicole Holmes scored the first UNO basket in just under six minutes.
The Holmes basket would be the first of a 7-0 run for the Lady Privateers that included five points from Young and brought the host team's lead down to 11 at 38-27. LSU went without a made attempt from the field for just over five minutes during the run.
When the Lady Tiger offense found their mark, their defense did their part to keep UNO in check. LSU built their lead to 24 points and would not see their advantage dip below 20 the rest of the game.
The Lady Privateers will open their Sun Belt Conference slate on Wednesday against Florida Atlantic at Lakefront Arena in a 7 p.m. contest. The game which will be streamed exclusively on UNO Vision is a rematch of last year's SBC tournament first round game, won by UNO in Boca Raton, Fla.
