A lot of basketball fans are more familiar with the history of LSU Tigers men’s basketball team, but the women’s team has had more success than the men’s.
They won a national championship, made six Final Four appearances, and made it to the Elite Eight nine times – not to mention the fact that they have produced several All-Americans.
LSU is one of the elite women’s basketball programs in the country and today we honor 10 women who help elevate his program to elite status.
Here are the top 10 LSU women’s basketball players of all time.
10. Elaine Powell, guard
In two years with the Elaine Powell Tigers, Powell averaged 19.1 points per game which is fourth in school history and she finished her career as LSU’s 11th all-time leading scorer with 1,163 points.
9. Aiysha Smith, center
Aiysha Smith played for the Tigers back in the early 2000s and was All-SEC back in 2002. In her senior season, she scored in double figures in 26 out of the 34 games she played that season. Her 33 blocked shots that season were the second most on the team and the 11th-best single-season total in school history. She also was a finalist for the Naismith National Player of the Year award that season too.
8. Doneeka Lewis, shooting guard
Doneeka Lewis played guard for the Tigers in the early 2000s. In her college career, she scored 1,484 points and collected 418 rebounds. She ranks 11th on the school’s all-time scoring list. In 2002 and 2004 and she earned second-team All-SEC honors. She played in the WNBA for several years with three different teams.
7. Theresa Plaisance, power forward
Theresa Plaisance is one of the most successful forwards to ever play for the Tigers in school history. She was an All-SEC performer who is 20th in school history in points with 1293 and 14th in rebounds with 637. She is also the last LSU player to average 15-plus points and 7-plus rebounds per game in consecutive seasons since Sylvia Fowles.
6. Temeka Johnson, guard
Temeka Johnson is not only LSU’s and the SEC’s all-time assist leader, but she made the All-SEC first and third teams three times in her career and was the MVP of the SEC Tournament in 2003. Johnson was also an All-American and won the Nancy Lieberman Award in 2005. She also became the seventh player in NCAA history to record at least 900 assists and ranks fifth in career assists in NCAA history with 945. She is also the only player in LSU history to record at least 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in a career. Johnson was not only the best players in Tigers’ history but in SEC history male or female too.
5. Allison Hightower, guard
Allison Hightower was known as a defensive specialist for the Tigers. She was not only named to the All-SEC Defensive team in her junior and senior years but was named to the All-SEC first team. She also Earned All-America honors as a junior and senior and was a National Player of the Year candidate in 2010. Hightower finished as the 13th all-time leading scorer in school history with 1,509 points, sixth in blocked shots with 89, and seventh in career 3-point field goals with 108 and her 89 career blocked shots were the most by a guard in school history.
4. Marie Ferdinand-Harris, shooting guard
Marie Ferdinand was the heart of the 2007 LSU team that tried to make a run in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Ferdinand completed her career with 1,648 points, 524 rebounds, 384 assists, and 239 steals and was one of four players in the program’s history to record at least 1,500 points, grab 500 rebounds, record 300 assists, and make 200 steals. Former LSU head coach Sue Gunter said about Ferdinand-Harris as a freshman that she was “Marie could be one of the most athletically gifted players that we have had in a long time.” And she wasn’t wrong.
3. Seimone Augustus, shooting guard
When you think of the name Simone Augustus, you think of the greatest players in NCAA history. Augustus was a two-time National Player of the Year and two-time SEC Player of the Year and 9f course an All-American, She also averaged 19.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, and two assists per game in her collegiate career. During her final year, she won the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, recognizing her as the nation’s top senior women’s basketball player while leading the Tigers to three straight Final Fours. She was also the first female athlete in school history to have her number retired. She also is the only female athlete to have a statue built in her honor as well.
2. Sylvia Fowles, center
Maybe the greatest LSU basketball player of all time is Sylvia Fowles, she along with Seimone Augustus helped lead LSU to several Final Fours. In 2008, she was named SEC Player of the Year and during a 2008 NCAA Tournament game, she broke the all-time SEC record for career rebounds. She also is a two-time Gold Medalist. She also was of course an All-American. Fowles talked about her career at LSU when she was being inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame.
Fowles thanked her former Tiger teammates.
“I just go back and appreciate all my coaches down the line and my teammates,” Fowles said. “All of them always pushed me to my limits. Nobody ever let me settle, and nobody ever babied me along the way. They always pushed me, and that’s something that I’m truly grateful for.”
Fowles went on to have a long and successful career in the WNBA for mainly with the Chicago Sky where she won two WNBA championships and two WNBA Finalist MVPs as well. She also was MVP of the league in 2017.
1. Angel Reese, forward
It might come as a surprise that Angel Reese is on our list but here is why: out of all the ladies on this list, she is the only one who led her team to a national championship in 2024, but not only that, she made herself one of the best-paid athletes male or female in NCAA history because of the NIL.
Career-wise, Reese was a unanimous Al-American, made the SEC All-Defensive team, was the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and was named First-Team All-SEC.
Reese also set the NCAA single-season record in double-doubles and the SEC single-season record in rebounds.