The LSU women’s basketball team beat No. 9 Georgia 62-54 Sunday afternoon in the PMAC in their third consecutive game against a ranked team.
After losing a close game against No. 12 Tennessee, the Lady Tigers (14-10, 5-6 Southeastern Conference) bounced back with a composed performance against No. 9 Georgia (20-4, 8-3 SEC).
“I’m very proud of this team especially after the loss on Thursday [against Tennessee],” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “They’ve always known that they can play with some of the best teams in the country.”
Junior forward Theresa Plaisance, senior guard Adrienne Webb and junior guard Jeanne Kenney all had double-digit scoring for LSU with 13, 12 and 11 points, respectively.
Freshman guard Danielle Ballard added 15 rebounds, which is a career-high for the freshman. Ballard shot 2-for-17 from the floor, and Caldwell said those 15 rebounds represent Ballard’s competitive nature.
“She didn’t shoot the ball extremely well, but we challenge her to do other things like get on the boards,” Caldwell said. “Some of [those rebounds], because of her competitive spirit, she was going against a 6’4’ 6’3’ [player] every time.”
For the first score of the game, Kenney found Plaisance for a jumper, then on LSU’s next possession Webb hit a three-pointer that was assisted by Kenney. Georgia coach Andy Landers said he was not pleased by the way his team played early.
“We didn’t start this game locked in like we wanted,” Landers said. “We gave up nine points in the first five minutes of the basketball game, and I thought we weren’t locked in and did not get the job done.”
Multiple Lady Tigers contributed with junior forward Shanece McKinney putting up six points and eight rebounds, freshman center Derreyal Youngblood adding seven points and four rebounds and Bianca Lutley finishing with seven points and two rebounds.
Kenney said this game was a must-win for LSU. Coming into this game she said she knew LSU was going to win and beat the No. 9 team in the country.
“I felt personally that you can’t go 0-3 against these top-ranked teams,” Kenney said. “In hindsight you save the best for last and the highest ranking team for last. We got better and that’s the process and just remembering it’s not a sprint but a marathon.”
