ATHENS, Ga. ----- Freshman Jasmine James scored the go-ahead lay-up with 1:23 on the clock and added a free throw with 39 seconds left as the 14^th-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs held on for a 49-46 overtime win over No. 19 LSU Thursday night at Stegeman Coliseum.

The score was knotted at 42 at the end of regulation, but the Lady Dogs allowed just four points in the extra period to come away with the win and improve to 19-4 (6-4 SEC), snapping their three-game losing skid. The Lady Tigers fall to 15-6 (4-5) with the loss.

It was only the second overtime contest of the season for Georgia, which is now 2-0 in OT after defeating Kentucky in similar fashion back on Jan. 7. Tonight marked only the third time the Lady Dogs have scored less than 50 points in a game this season, while they have now held opponents under 50 on eight occasions in 2009-10.

“If you like defense, this was a good one. If you like offense, this game was about as ugly as it comes,” said head coach Andy Landers. “We didn’t get off to a good start. They scored their first four points off offensive rebounds and they had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and nine more in the second half. But we made stops, we cleaned up with rebounds and kept them from scoring the basketball. We missed some key free throws, but we scored enough to win this.”

Georgia received 15 points from James and got eight apiece from Porsha Phillips and Angel Robinson. Robinson also contributed a game-best 14 rebounds and four blocks. The rebound total tied her season high.

Allison Hightower was LSU’s leading scorer with 22 points, while she added eight boards and was the only Lady Tiger in double digits.

LSU led for all but the final seven seconds of the first half – including their largest margin of eight at the 9:31 mark in the opener. After a lay-up from the Lady Tigers’ Destini Hughes put LSU up by seven, at 20-13, with 5:52 left, Georgia kicked off a 6-0 run to cut it to just one with 2:44 to go.

A jumper from Robinson with seven ticks remaining gave the Lady Bulldogs their first lead of the game at 23-22 and after LSU failed to score for the final 3:21 of the first half, Georgia hit the locker room holding onto that slim lead.

The second half started slowly for both teams, as there was only one bucket – a Meredith Mitchell jumper – in a span of nearly five minutes, until a lay-up from point guard Ashley Houts snapped that dry spell with 12:19 left in the game to give UGA a four-point edge at 31-27.

Georgia was again up by four, 38-34, with 7:33 to go in regulation after Phillips followed her own missed jumper, but LSU would tie it at 38 before taking a 40-38 lead with 6:03 left in the second on a lay-up from Taylor Turnbow. A pair of free throws for Phillips tied it up again, but LSU went right back in front at 42-40 with 5:02 on the clock. After Houts knocked down a jumper to tie it at 42 apiece with 4:03 left, neither team would find the net for the remainder of the half as it was headed for the extra five.

The Tigers scored first in OT on a Hightower fade-away from the baseline, but Phillips countered on a putback to make it 44-44 with 1:10 gone by. Another scoring drought kept it tied until the clock read 2:03, when Phillips sank two free throws to give the lead back to Georgia. But Katherine Graham was fouled and made both her looks to tie it once again at 46 with 1:39 left.

From there, James weaved her way through the lane right to the basket for a late lay-up to put the Lady Dogs on top, 48-46, with 1:23 to play and after Georgia stole the ball back and was fouled, James hit the front end of her one-and-one to make it a three-point cushion with 39 ticks remaining.

LSU couldn’t score on its next possession and Hightower fouled Phillips with nine seconds left in the overtime period. Phillips missed her first chance and the Lady Tigers secured the rebound, but couldn’t get their last three-point attempt to go as the Lady Dogs came away with the victory.

Georgia is now 20-16 all-time against the league rival, which includes an 11-5 clip in meetings in Athens.

In the contest, Houts saw her playing time shoot back up to 34 minutes as she continues to work her way back from a sprained ankle suffered in the Tennessee game on Jan. 21 and tweaked vs. Mississippi State Jan. 28. The senior played just eight minutes in the Lady Dogs’ last outing at Auburn but contributed tonight with seven points, two asssits and two steals.

The Lady Dogs are next in action on Sun., Feb. 7 when they host South Carolina for a 2 p.m. tip to be televised on CSS.