Santa Barbara Is Routed by LSU

Louisiana State has been the nation’s No. 1-ranked team for a month and looks very comfortable at the top.

That point was made abundantly clear Tuesday night to UC Santa Barbara, the latest team to get rolled up by the Tigers, 72-52, in front of 3,629 who watched the Gauchos absorb their worst home loss since Jan. 20, 1990, when Long Beach State beat them, 102-77.

“I was really pleased with our defensive effort,” said Coach Pokey Chatman, noting the Tigers held Santa Barbara to 35.8% shooting. “To come into this building where a lot of teams have fallen, and to come out with the energy and enthusiasm to get our game started on the defensive end is something exciting for me.”

With Stanford’s loss to Tennessee, LSU (11-0) and Iowa (10-0) are the only top-25 teams still unbeaten.

“Their quickness is breathtaking,” Gaucho Coach Mark French said of LSU. “To beat them you really have to take care of the ball and make them get defensive rebounds.”

Junior forward Seimone Augustus led LSU with 16 points and had to play only 24 minutes, which was good because she was recovering from food poisoning. Senior guard Temeka Johnson had 11 points and seven assists.

Senior forward Kristen Mann had 22 points for Santa Barbara (2-4).

LSU got the first big spurt, an 13-2 run to go ahead, 25-14, at the 8-minute 40-second mark. The lead got as high as 16 points before the Gauchos cut the deficit to 36-25 at halftime.

But the Tigers went on a 14-2 run in the first three minutes of the second half to take control, 50-27.

Mike Terry

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No. 9 Tennessee 70, No. 2 Stanford 67 -- Shanna Zolman made a three-point basket at the buzzer at Knoxville, Tenn., and the Lady Vols beat the Cardinal for the ninth consecutive time.

Shyra Ely had 16 points for the Lady Vols, and Kelley Suminski had 21 for Stanford (8-1).

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No. 4 Texas 69, Texas Arlington 24 -- Tiffany Jackson scored 12 points at Austin to help the Longhorns (6-2) extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 40 games.

Terra Wallace had 10 points for Texas Arlington (4-5).

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Arizona State 61, No. 8 Connecticut 50 -- Emily Westerberg had a season-high 18 points at Tempe, Ariz., and the Sun Devils (8-2) handed the Huskies (4-2) their first loss in December in 11 years, a string of 60 victories.

Ashley Battle had a career-high 21 points for the Huskies.

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No. 11 Michigan State 85, Vermont 57 -- Kelli Roehrig matched her season high with 23 points at East Lansing, Mich., to lead the Spartans (10-1) to their sixth consecutive victory.

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No. 12 Texas Tech 79, Penn State 65 -- Cisti Greenwalt scored a season-high 21 points at Lubbock, Texas, and the Raiders (7-2) overcame a five-point deficit with an 11-1 run in the last 8:06 of the first half.

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No. 15 Georgia 79, Marist 62 -- Freshman Tasha Humphrey had 26 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs (9-3) at Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Kristin Keller led Marist (3-4) with 20 points.

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No. 18 Iowa 76, Western Illinois 69 -- Johanna Solverson scored 19 points and Crystal Smith had 18 for the Hawkeyes (10-0) at Iowa City, Iowa, where Jessica Cook scored 22 for the Westernwinds (4-5).

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No. 19 DePaul 86, St. Peter’s 61 -- Khara Smith and Allie Quigley scored 32 and 24 points, respectively, and the Blue Demons (8-2) used a 25-2 run midway through the second half to pull away at Jersey City, N.J.

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Oklahoma 72, No. 25 Utah 59 -- The Sooners (7-3) got 17 points from Erin Higgins and used a 9-0 run to start the second half at Salt Lake City to end a seven-game winning streak by the Utes (8-3), who got 19 points from Kim Smith.