LSU women continue winning ways on hardcourt, men struggling

It was another up-and-down week for the men and women’s basketball teams in TigerTown. The Lady Tigers notched a pair of victories this past week to up their winning streak to five games. The LSU men lost both of their games this past week to up their losing streak to three games.

Both teams played on Sunday. The Lady Tigers got a 19-point, 20-rebound performance from All-American Sylvia Fowles as No. 8 LSU improved to 20-2 overall and 6-1 in the Southeastern Conference with a 64-45 win over Auburn. The victory marked the 42nd-consecutive home win. The Lady Tigers have also won 20 games in each of the last five seasons. Quianna Chaney added 17 points while Ashley Thomas chipped in 11 points.

On Thursday, the Lady Tigers whipped Arkansas, 70-53. Both victories last week were at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Fowles finished with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Chaney chimed in with 15 points, while Thomas added 11 points.

On Sunday in Athens, Georgia beat LSU, 57-54, to drop the Tigers to 13-7 overall and 2-4 overall in the SEC. Glen Davis had 18 points, 14 points and six assists. Terry Martin added 16 points.

The Tigers fell at home on Wednesday to Vanderbilt, 64-53. The loss marked the first time since 2004 since that LSU lost an SEC home game. It was also the first home conference loss by the LSU football, men or women’s basketball team since the football team’s home debut after Hurricane Katrina (the football team lost to Tennessee, 30-27, in overtime on Sept. 2005). Mitchell scored 16 points for the Tigers, while Davis and Garrett Temple each notched 12 points.

FORMER TIGER STANDOUT KAVANAUGH PASSES AWAY

Ken Kavanaugh, a former LSU standout who had a record-setting professional football career as well as being a heroic World War II bomber pilot, died last week in Sarasota, Fla., at the age of 90.

Kavanaugh was a three-year letterwinner at LSU from 1937-39, earning All-America honors as an end in 1939. He was a two-time first-team All-SEC selection in 1938 and 1939 as well as finishing seventh in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a senior in 1939. Kavanaugh later spent 45 years in the New York Giants organization as a coach and scout.

Kavanaugh was an assistant coach with the Giants from 1955-70. He moved into the scouting department in 1971 and remained there until announcing his retirement during the 1999 season. He then retired to Sarasota.

Kenneth William Kavanaugh was born on Nov. 23, 1916 in Little Rock, Ark. He was an offensive and defensive end at Little Rock Central High School and later at LSU. Kavanaugh was presented the Knute Rockne Memorial Award that year, the first lineman so honored. Kavanaugh was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963.

The Chicago Bears selected Kavanaugh on the second round of the 1940 NFL Draft. He caught 23 passes and scored nine touchdowns in 1940-41 and led the NFL with a 28.5-yards-per-catch average in ’41. He then left the Bears for a three-year tour of duty as a bomber pilot in Europe in World War II. Kavanaugh flew 30 missions over Germany, winning the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four Oak Clusters.

He returned to Chicago in 1945 and played for six more seasons. He had career-high totals of 32 receptions, 818 yards and 13 touchdowns in 1947. In eight seasons with the Bears, Kavanaugh played in 90 games and caught 162 passes for 3,626 yards and 50 touchdowns. He had two more scores on fumble recoveries.

A member of the Bears’ all-time team, Kavanaugh set four Chicago records that still stand today, 56 years after his last game: most career touchdown receptions (50); most single-season touchdown receptions (13, a mark tied by Dick Gordon in 1970); highest average gain, career (22.4 yards) and highest average gain, season (25.6 yards in 1947).

SOFTBALL SEASON TICKETS ON SALE

With the start of the 2007 season only two weeks away, individual game tickets for the LSU softball season will go on sale on Feb. 1 at the LSU Athletics Ticket Office. Individual game tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for children ages 3-12.

Fans can purchase tickets online at the official web site of LSU Athletics (www.lsusports.net), at the ticket office on the first floor of the Athletics Administration Building or by calling (225) 578-2184 or (800) 960-8587. LSU students, faculty and staff are admitted free with an LSU ID.

SWIMMING AND DIVING TEAM COMPLETES SWEEP

The No. 23 LSU women’s swimming and diving team completed a sweep of Houston, Rice and New Orleans as the final day of a quad meet came to a close at the LSU Natatorium on Saturday.

The Lady Tigers defeated Rice, 216-131, while also downing Houston, 233-120 and UNO, 283-63.

BREAUX NOTCHED WIN NO. 500

LSU head coach D-D Breaux earned her 500th career victory as her 15th-ranked Tiger gymnastics team posted a season high 196.500 to beat 14th-ranked Arkansas’ 195.575 on Friday night.

Photo by STEVE FRANZ • LSU * LSU’s women’s basketball team won two games last week. Quianna Chaney played key roles in both wins, recording 17 points in Sunday’s win over Auburn and 15 points in a Thursday-night win over Arkansas.