Seven minutes and 17 seconds.
With 15:30 remaining in the second half and LSU leading 32-26 following a 9-0 run by visiting Arkansas, Lady Tigers’ coach Nikki Caldwell subbed out five starters for five reserves.
The Lady Tigers’ starters retook the PMAC court with 8:13 remaining in the second half — seven minutes and 17 seconds later.
By that point, Arkansas had developed momentum, cutting the LSU lead to 39-36. The Razorbacks would overtake the Lady Tigers two minutes later.
LSU (18-9, 7-7 Southeastern Conference) entered the PMAC riding a three-game losing streak, including losses in five of its last six contests, looking to recover against Arkansas (18-9, 5-9 SEC). But a late rally by the Razorbacks resulted in a 57-53 Lady Tiger loss.
Caldwell backed her decision to leave the starters out for so long.
“I felt as though our bench played hard, and we’d been talking about them sustaining, and they did,” Caldwell said. “They did a nice job of really trying to get the tempo in our favor.
Caldwell went with an unconventional starting lineup against the Razorbacks — both junior forward Sheila Boykin and junior guard DaShawn Harden got the nod ahead of senior forward Shanece McKinney and injured freshman guard Raigyne Moncrief.
For the first 10 minutes of the game, the lineup change appeared to be exactly what the Lady Tigers needed to rebound from a road loss at Georgia on Thursday.
The Lady Tigers led 16-3 with 10:09 remaining in the first half, holding Arkansas to 7 percent shooting from the field.
Senior forward Theresa Plaisance continued her string of dominant play on Sunday, scoring 12 points and grabbing six rebounds in the first half.
When the buzzer for halftime sounded, LSU held a commanding 27-17 lead against Arkansas.
Arkansas took advantage of LSU’s bench getting time in the second half, going on a 17-3 run and eventually drawing within one point of the Lady Tigers at 35-34.
LSU senior guard Jeanne Kenney said Arkansas’ rebounding ability was one of the biggest issues in the loss.
“We need a freaking box-out. We need a rebound. That was the mentality,” Kenney said. “But when you give up 23 offensive rebounds, and in the scouting report, we knew they could rebound … that’s a ‘pep’ play.”
Caldwell’s squad will have to rebound to avoid dropping its fifth-straight conference game when LSU welcomes Tennessee to Baton Rouge on Thursday, a squad the Lady Tigers won against in Knoxville on Jan. 2.
It will be a must-win for the Lady Tigers.
“I think the one thing we talk about and stress to our team through athletics is that it makes leaders,” Caldwell said. “Leaders emerge in different forms and fashion, and they may emerge after this loss. But somebody’s got to emerge.”
“This definitely ranks among the lows. Four straight losing games is not the way we want to go out. At this point, we have to figure out our mistakes and figure out how to overcome them and be unified and be a team. It’s definitely not a high point, for sure.”