• By RANDY ROSETTA
• Advocate sportswriter
• Published: Feb 8, 2010

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On one of the biggest days in this state’s sports history, the LSU and Ole Miss women certainly didn’t want to be relegated to afterthought status.

So when the Lady Tigers and Rebels tussled several hours before the Saints took the field for Super Bowl XLIV, they carved their own niche of epic memories Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

With reserve sophomore Kayla Holloway delivering several huge plays in the final 57.6 seconds, Ole Miss scratched out a memorable 102-101 triumph in triple overtime.

The game was the third-highest-scoring game in LSU history and just the second triple-overtime game the Lady Tigers have ever played in.

All the numbers aside, though, the bottom line was another Lady Tigers’ loss — their sixth in eight games and third in overtime this season.

LSU had never played consecutive overtime games until this week. Now, a second straight tough-to-swallow setback leaves the Lady Tigers 15-7 and 4-6 in the Southeastern Conference.

“I thought we played with an incredible effort (Sunday),” Lady Tigers coach Van Chancellor said. “I thought we fought as hard as we could fight.

“Late in the game, we did all we could. Then, at the end (Ole Miss) made some incredible shots.”

Ole Miss coach Renee Ladner, who played for the Rebels under Chancellor, knew exactly how valuable the win was.

“Any time you go on the road and you can find a way to dig one out and win in triple overtime, it’s big,” Ladner said. “You prefer to play one game at a time, but it was a game that wouldn’t end. It was a hard-fought game between two teams, and on this particular day we came up with the win.”

This day, there was no shortage of incredible for either team.

LSU’s Katherine Graham recorded the second triple-double in program history (20 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists), but her missed free throw with 5 seconds left and miss on a desperate jump shot as time expired allowed the Rebels to finally escape.

Allison Hightower pumped in 31 points, but she missed the final 7‰ minutes when cramps got the best of her — a byproduct of playing every second of the first 47‰ minutes and turning in a marvelous defensive effort on Ole Miss star Bianca Thomas.