ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- It took career-highs by April Brown and Marie Ferdinand to give Louisiana State (No. 25 ESPN/USA Today, No. 23 AP) its biggest road victory ever.

Brown scored 25 points and Ferdinand had 21 as the Lady Tigers beat No. 2 Georgia 80-74 Thursday night in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.

Georgia (7-1) was the highest-ranked team LSU (5-1) has ever beaten on the road.

"This is a big win," said Ferdinand, a 5-foot-9 junior guard. "A lot of people didn't give us any hope of coming into Georgia and winning."

Georgia coach Andy Landers said the Lady Bulldogs, who were led by Tawana McDonald's 16 points, didn't give a strong effort.

"We lost because we didn't sprint the floor," Landers said.

The Lady Bulldogs led most of the second half, though never by more than seven points. Georgia's last lead was 72-70 after Kelly Miller's steal and layup with three minutes to go.

But LSU's DeTrina White answered with a layup 23 seconds later. Katrina Hibbert hit an open jumper with 1:54 to play to give LSU the lead for good.

Coco Miller shot an airball from the top of the key with 90 seconds to play. Then Brown, a 62 percent free throw shooter, hit two free throws to put LSU up 76-72.

Georgia's last basket was a layup by McDonald with 1:02 to play.

Ferdinand hit a jumper from the right of the circle with 33 seconds to go to make it 78-74. Hibbert and Brown added two more free throws as Georgia continued to misfire in the waning seconds.

"It was a great win," LSU coach Sue Gunter said. "It was a great game. We just wanted to stay close the last three or four minutes."

LSU shot 69.6 percent from the field in the second half, hitting 16 of 23 shots.

The Lady Bulldogs led 40-37 at halftime.