Basketball Roundup | Tigers knock off No. 1 Vols

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — When Louisiana State fell behind early by 19 points, coach Van Chancellor was afraid to look at his cellphone.

"Well, when it was 21-2, I didn't want to answer my cellphone," the first-year coach said. "I thought it might be the athletic director telling me I no longer had a job."

Chancellor had nothing to worry about. The seventh-ranked Tigers overcame the deficit and grabbed the Southeastern Conference lead with a 78-62 win over top-ranked Tennessee on Thursday night.

LSU (21-3, 10-0), which remains the only SEC team without a conference loss, also handed Tennessee its worst conference loss at home since a 72-56 setback to Georgia in 1985.

Sylvia Fowles led a balanced offensive attack with 17 points and 14 rebounds. Erica White added 16 points, and Quianna Chaney had 14 points.

The Vols (22-2, 8-1) held a 33-30 halftime lead, but the Tigers came out with a 5-1 run to grab a 35-34 lead as RaShonta LeBlanc drove to the hoop with 16:34 left.

LSU shot 60 percent during the second half compared to Tennessee's 28.6 percent. The Tigers also took advantage of 17 Tennessee fouls after the break, sinking 17 of 26 at the line.

Tennessee jumped out to a 21-2 lead on a three-pointer from Spokane's Angie Bjorklund with 13:17 left in the first half. LSU hit just two field goals and a free throw in the first 8 ½ minutes while missing 14 shots.

"We actually kept our composure as a team," Fowles said. "Nobody fussed with each other."

Candace Parker led Tennessee with 26 points and had 10 rebounds. Nicky Anosike had 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Tennessee was coming off a controversial, last-second win over Rutgers on Monday. Coach Pat Summitt said earlier in the week that the Vols were spent emotionally and physically after that game.

"I can't figure this group out," she said Thursday. "We got a win over Rutgers. They went in understanding that we could win the league tonight if we took care of business. That didn't seem to matter very much."

Top 25 men

At No. 9 Butler 89,

Youngstown State 73

Mike Green scored 17 points, and the Bulldogs won their seventh straight.

A.J. Graves scored 15 points and Matt Howard added 12 for Butler (12-2 Horizon League), which is a school-best 23-2 for the second consecutive season.

Byron Davis led Youngstown State with 20 points and Vance Cooksey added 15 for the Penguins (8-17, 4-11), who have lost eight of nine.

Butler set season highs for points and field goal percentage (.623). The Bulldogs made 13 of 20 three-pointers.

Other Top 10 women

At No. 4 Maryland 78,

Boston College 51

Marah Strickland scored a career-high 20 points, and the Terrapins (26-2, 10-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) won their fourth straight.

Maryland, which had made just 24 percent of its three-pointers in the previous five games, made 11 of 22 three-point attempts.

Boston College (17-8, 5-5), which lost its third in a row, was led by Carolyn Swords and Stefanie Murphy, who scored 10 points each.

Other games

At Eastern Washington men 69,

Weber State 57

Brandon Moore scored a season-high 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Eagles (10-17, 5-8 Big Sky Conference) cruised to victory.

Daviin Davis led the Wildcats (12-11, 7-4) with 16 points.

Eastern Washington led 60-51 with 5 minutes left when Marcus Hinton scored seven straight points, capped by a three-point play with 2:16 left to put the Eagles up 67-51.

At Weber State 73,

Eastern Washington women 58

The Wildcats (10-12, 5-6 Big Sky) used a 13-2 run to start the second half and pull away for a victory.

Sydney Benson and Julie Piper scored 14 points apiece for the Eagles (4-20, 1-10).

At Gonzaga women 90,

San Francisco 42

Spokane's Heather Bowman had a game-high 20 points, and Kentwood graduate Courtney Vandersloot added 18 points, eight assists and five rebounds to send the Bulldogs (17-7, 8-1 West Coast Conference) past the Dons (13-10, 4-4).

Sports-information reports contributed to this article.