Hightower named Louisiana top female college basketball player

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BATON ROUGE - After leading LSU to the NCAA tournament for the 12th straight season and ending her career as the 13th all-time leading scorer in school history, Allison Hightower has been voted as the 2009-10 Louisiana Player of the Year by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, making her a repeat winner in the category.

Hightower edged out Louisiana Tech's Shanavia Dowdell by four first place votes in ballots submitted by university sports information directors and select members of the state's media. She also earned a spot on the All-Louisiana first team.

It marks the seventh straight season LSU has produced the Louisiana Player of the Year. Sylvia Fowles won the award in 2007 and 2008 and Seimone Augustus claimed the honor three consecutive seasons from 2004-06. Hightower won the award as a junior in 2009.

Hightower has been invited to attend the 2010 WNBA Draft on April 8 in Secaucus, N.J. The draft airs live on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com at 2 p.m. CST Thursday.

Dowdell joins Hightower on the All-Louisiana first team along with Bickham, Tulane's Chassidy Brown, and Adrienne Johnson, also of Louisiana Tech.

Voted onto the second team were Brittany Powell of Xavier, Tillisha Givens of Louisiana College, Trenese Smith of Loyola, LaSondra Barrett of LSU, and Hannah Kador of Southern.

Barrett, a second team All-SEC selection, led LSU in rebounding with 6.6 boards per game, while ranking second on the team with 12.8 points per contest. The sophomore posted five double-doubles and led the SEC in free throw percentage at 84.4 percent (147-of-161). She became the first LSU player since Seimone Augustus in 2003 to lead the SEC in free throw percentage.

LSU junior guard Katherine Graham received honorable mention honors after averaging 8.4 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. Graham led LSU in field goal percentage (45.7) and produced just the third triple-double in school history with 20 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds against Ole Miss on Feb. 7.

Posted by Bill Martin