The LSU women’s basketball team handed Southeastern Conference rival Alabama its fourth loss in a row Sunday with a 51-39 victory at the PMAC.
The victory was LSU’s (14-9, 8-3 SEC) fourth win in a row and added to its longest winning streak of the season. It was also the Lady Tigers’ fifth consecutive home win.
LSU contained an Alabama (12-13, 1-9 SEC) comeback after the Lady Tigers led by 12 at halftime. LSU went through similar scenarios in its previous three games, allowing Auburn and Missouri to make runs early in the second half of games to shrink LSU leads.
LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said any matchup in the SEC can be difficult, regardless of the rival’s rank.
“The SEC is such a competitive conference,” Caldwell said. “No matter what the records of our opponents are, it’s going to be a fight. We knew Alabama was going to come in here and was going to play hard. We knew they were going to play aggressively, and they did just that. I’m proud of our team for staying the course.”
The Lady Tigers hit an offensive dry spell early in the second half after shooting 50 percent from the floor throughout the first. They allowed the Crimson Tide to come out of halftime on a 7-0 run, during which LSU shot 0-for-4. The Lady Tigers finished the game shooting 38 percent from the floor and only 29 percent in the second half.
Alabama eventually pulled within four points, but LSU never gave up the lead the entire game and ended the second half on a 12-4 run.
Freshman forward Stephanie Amichia said she and her teammates stuck to the game plan and didn’t allow themselves to look back.
“[Caldwell] says this all the time: Everything is zero-zero,” Amichia said. “After every segment, going into every game. It doesn’t matter what the stats are. Everything is equal.”
The Lady Tigers were led by junior guard Danielle Ballard and sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief, who each had 11 points. Moncrief finished the game with a double-double, pulling in a career-high 13 rebounds.
Alabama was led by its season-leading scorer, sophomore forward Ashley Williams, who had 15 points and four rebounds on 7-of-12 shooting. Alabama’s remaining four starters had a combined eight points and didn’t score a field goal until the mid-point of the first half.
Moncrief said even though the Lady Tigers stagnated, they were able overcome another conference opponent.
“We were being complacent,” Moncrief said. “The starters were not getting us off to a great start. We were not playing great defense. They are a good team and they were going to get their runs, but [Caldwell] was encouraging. We have to be a great defensive team to even be in the SEC.”
The win kept LSU tied for third in the SEC standings after Mississippi State’s overtime win against Texas A&M earlier in the day. Alabama remained 13th in the SEC rankings, with its ninth loss in 10 SEC games.
Caldwell said she is proud of where her team is in its growth, but there’s always room for improvement.
“We’ve grown tremendously as a team,” Caldwell said. “We are just playing very unselfish. To me, that is the sign of a mature team. We’ve got to continue to work on some areas that challenged us tonight, but we have time.”
You can reach Stanton Vignes on Twitter @StanVignes_TDR.