The phrase “all good things must come to an end” was deemed true Sunday afternoon in Columbia, South Carolina.
The LSU women’s basketball team suffered their first loss of the season to the No. 1-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in a 88-64 battle.
South Carolina, simply put, was the better team Sunday afternoon. When it came to depth, height down low and scoring consistently, LSU just couldn’t keep up with the Gamecocks. South Carolina got off to the fast start they needed, going up by as many as 16 points in the first quarter.
“The worst thing you can do on the road is allow the home team to start from the tip, and we did,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “The tone for the whole game was set from the jump ball.”
Alexis Morris led LSU with her veteran experience. She scored a team-high of 23 points along with six rebounds. In the first half, she scored 15 of the Tigers’ 32 points.
Angel Reese was certainly tested by South Carolina’s post-players. Her double-double streak came to an end, as she finished with 16 points and four rebounds.
“I just think they have a lot of girls that can guard Angel [Reese] with their size and physicality,” Mulkey said. “I don’t think they did anything different than against any other team they’ve played against.”
Sa’Myah Smith finished with seven points and six rebounds, and LaDazhia Williams added six points. Williams fouled out of the game in the fourth quarter.
The Gamecocks’ post players made themselves most known. Their height was too much, and the ability to gain control of the game early made it that much worse for LSU.
Aliyah Boston backed up her top-draft pick hype with 14 points and nine rebounds. The 6-foot-5 forward certainly presented a challenge to the Tigers, but Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 center, challenged them even more. She led the team in scoring and finished with a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds.
“She’s [Cardoso] a presence in the paint, and boy do they use that paint,” Mulkey said. “When you’re that big and tall, I’d stand in the paint until they make me get out because they really do know how to post up good.”
Cardoso was especially a force on defense, as she finished with 10 defensive rebounds. Boston added seven rebounds on the defensive end. This being said, while it was hard for LSU to make shots, especially early in the game, South Carolina’s post players never made it possible for the Tigers to grab second-chance shots.
Zia Cooke and Brea Beal complemented their post players with their consistent scoring. Cooke led South Carolina in scoring the majority of the game, and she finished the game with 17 points. Beal added 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists for the Gamecocks. Raven Johnson also added 10 points.
Whenever Cardoso and Boston gave South Carolina an edge, their guards would be there to score on the other side of the post players didn’t already convert.
“They just have so many weapons that we don’t have,” Mulkey said. “They have the length at all positions, and size matters…it just matters.”
Overall, the Gamecocks’ depth was a factor that LSU knew it couldn’t match, and it ended up being a reason why South Carolina never seemed to slow down. The Gamecocks had eight players score points in the matchup, and 10 players recorded stats in the game.
South Carolina made itself known even more Sunday afternoon, and they certainly backed up the hype that comes with being the top-ranked team in the country. With LSU losing, South Carolina is now the only remaining undefeated team left in the country.
“I’ll give my utmost respect and comments about how good they are, how big they are, how tall they are, how talented they are,” Mulkey said. “It’s South Carolina, in my opinion, and everybody else.”
This loss puts LSU in an unfamiliar position: How does it bounce back after a loss?
“I think it’s quite a learning experience today,” Mulkey said. “You build confidence in a program, you build excitement in a program, and we’re doing that. And now the next phase is to go get that experience. And today was a good day to see where we are and where we have to get better.”
Luckily for the Tigers, they have several days to regroup and figure that out. The Tigers will be back in the PMAC on Thursday to take on Ole Miss. The game will be a Pink Out and a Play4Kay game, and tip-off will be at 8 p.m.
