LSU basketball beats Alabama

It’s hardly payback for the Jan. 9 disaster on the football field.

But the LSU basketball teams did get a little revenge this weekend, scoring a pair of victories against Alabama.

The Tigers (14-10, 4-6) pounded the Crimson Tide (16-8, 5-5) from the get-go, taking an early 7-0 lead and never looking back, leading the entire 40 minutes of a 67-58 win.

LSU’s victory over the Tide came after several of Alabama’s rotation players were suspended for breaking unspecified team rules.

The Tigers attacked the thin Tide inside with the one-two punch of center Justin Hamilton and freshman Johnny O’Bryant.

The Tigers’ interior duo combined for 38 points and 15 rebounds in Saturday’s win, wowing Alabama’s overmatched front with an array of power and quickness.

“Me and Johnny, in practice, we’re always working together and so today in the game we noticed that they were playing high side or they were playing behind and we found each other really well and it worked out great,” Hamilton said.

With the win, LSU has now surpassed its 2010-11 SEC win total with four conference victories.

While the Tigers were easily muscling Alabama on Saturday, the LSU women had a real fight on their hands Sunday afternoon in Tuscaloosa.

Despite having beaten Alabama 84-40 in their first meeting in early January, the Lady Tigers (17-8, 7-5) trailed the Tide for the better portion of the game who took a 27-22 lead into halftime.

That lead held firm into the late stages of the game, as Alabama (11-15, 1-11) took a five-point lead into a timeout with six minutes to play.

Out of that timeout, LSU rode its best player to victory.

Senior LaSondra Barrett scored seven points of a 9-0 Lady Tigers run, which helped give LSU a hard-fought 51-46 win.

The senior scored 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds in the win, which kept the Lady Tigers on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

“LaSondra Barrett really set the tone down the stretch again for this team,” LSU women’s basketball coach Nikki Caldwell. “She got her attempts at the free throw line and played really aggressive off the bounce. We want to establish paint touches and we were able to move her from high to low and set some screens for her. She also had a height advantage and she set the tone for us to pull away at the end like we did.”