Despite blowing a 20 point lead in the second half, the LSU women’s basketball survived a massive second half rally by Missouri to notch a 74-65 victory Monday night in the PMAC, extending its home winning streak to four games.
Although both teams exchanged buckets in the early going, the Lady Tigers (12-9, 6-3 Southeastern Conference) clicked into gear with two runs to go ahead by 11 points at halftime and another to start the second half that seemingly put the game out of Missouri’s (12-10, 2-7 SEC) reach.
Missouri rallied back with a 21-3 run during a 7:40 span and took the lead with a little less than five minutes remaining. But, junior guard Danielle Ballard and sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief took over and sealed the game for the Lady Tigers.
“Missouri showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “They played to very end and I have a tremendous amount of respect for how hard they fought. I’m equally pleased with our ability to finish out the game… I’ve seen growth a lot over the course of the last month in finding a way to win against quality opponents like Missouri. I am very proud of this group.”
Offensively, the Lady Tigers were balanced in the first half with five different players scoring more than five points. They were able to create opportunities for each other, tallying seven assists in the first half alone.
Moncrief led the Lady Tigers with eight points in the first half, but senior forward Sheila Boykin, sophomore guard Rina Hill and junior guard Anne Pedersen followed closely behind with seven points apiece.
Defensively, LSU came in with the goal of shutting down one of the best 3-point shooters in nation, Missouri senior guard Morgan Eye. She came into the game shooting 35.4 percent from the 3-point line and just two 3-pointers away from breaking the SEC career 3-point record.
The Lady Tigers held Eye scoreless in the first half, including 0-for-2 from 3-point land. Collectively, LSU held Missouri to a 1-for-12 clip from behind the arc in the first half.
“We really wanted to take away the three ball, and I think we did a really good job of staying committed to that game plan,” Hill said. “We gave up a couple of easy two’s, but I think we still did a pretty decent job of guarding the three ball.”
The Lady Tigers began the second half with a 10-6 run to extend their lead to 20 points with 15:50 remaining.
From that point on, Missouri began clawing its way back, led by sophomore forward/guard Jordan Frericks and junior guard Juanita Robinson, who combined to score 24 points in the second half.
Missouri fought back with its huge 21-3 run and took a one-point lead, 59-58, with 4:59 remaining. Caldwell took a timeout to regroup her players.
“[Caldwell] was just telling us [during the timeout] that we still have this,” Moncrief said. “We just have to pick up our intensity defensively and stop fouling. It was a really good message to let us know that we still have this, but you just have to make some stops and get something going offensively.”
Coming out of the timeout, Ballard and Moncrief immediately took over the game, scoring the Lady Tigers last 16 points.
Moncrief finished with a season-high 21 points, and Ballard notched a double-double with 16 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds.
Despite the close call, the Lady Tigers’ ability to finish the game shows the improvement they made while winning four out of their last five games.
“It will help in the future a lot,” Hill said. “Especially in the preseason, we were losing those close games a lot. So the fact that we pulled this win out I think it’s a good thing for us.”