After suffering its worst loss of the season against No. 1 South Carolina on Jan. 4, the LSU women’s basketball team came into its rematch against the top-ranked Gamecocks on a four-game winning streak, but fell short again, 86-62, Thursday night.
The Gamecocks (23-1, 11-0 Southeastern Conference) dominated the Lady Tigers (14-10, 8-4 SEC) on both ends of the floor.
“A lot of credit to South Carolina, I knew they were going to be fired up after their game against [the University of Connecticut],” said LSU Nikki Caldwell during a post-game radio interview. “The one thing about our team in the second half — we didn’t give up… We played hard, but you’ve got to play for 40 minutes. We only played for about 30 minutes. That’s something we can correct.”
LSU kept it close in the beginning of the first half, but the Gamecocks opened up the game with four separate runs in the last nine minutes of the half when the Lady Tigers had to turn to their bench.
Freshman forward Stephanie Amichia cut South Carolina’s lead to six points with 9:35 left in the first half, but Gamecocks extended their lead to 16 with a 10-0 run starting with freshman guard/forward A’ja Wilson’s jumper with 9:06 remaining.
Sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief cut the run short with a jumper with 6:44 left, but South Carolina countered immediately with a 6-0 run.
Moncrief answered again for the Lady Tigers with a jumper with 5:12 remaining in the half, but the Gamecocks went on another 6-0 run during the next two minutes to extend their lead to 24 points with 2:30 remaining.
Although Moncrief hit a layup at the 1:51 mark, South Carolina finished the half with back-to-back 3-pointers, including Wilson’s first 3-point attempt of her career.
In the first half, LSU’s bench managed only two points in 31 combined minutes.
“We went to our bench,” Caldwell said. “Obviously, I needed to give our starters a rest because we were exhausted playing against that size… Our bench is equally as important as our starters. They have to maintain or push us ahead…. It’s a tough game for just five or six people to play, and we’ve been pretty successful prior to [tonight] by playing more people.”
Defensively, LSU could not find an answer to the size of South Carolina’s lineup, which includes senior center Elem Ibiam, freshman forward Jatarie White, sophomore center Alaina Coates and Wilson, who all stand at least 6-foot 4. They combined for 38 points and 22 rebounds against LSU.
Wilson shined again after scoring 21 points against the Lady Tigers’ defense in January. In her two games against LSU, Wilson has scored a combined 47 points and tallied 21 rebounds.
Senior guard Sheila Boykin, who stands 6-foot 2-inches, battled against South Carolina’s size in the paint. Boykin earned a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“[Boykin] plays with so much heart,” Caldwell said. “She is just a joy to coach because she is so coachable, and she’s going to try her very best and do what’s asked of her. You can’t ask anything else. Boykin has really been that unsung hero for our team this year.”
The Lady Tigers came alive in the second half, outscoring the Gamecocks 42-38. But it was too late.
After failing to get to the free-throw line in the first half, LSU shot 11-for-13 from the charity stripe in the second half.
Despite only shooting 1-for-11 from the floor in the first half, junior guard Danielle Ballard scored 14 points in the second half, including an 8-for-10 clip from the free throw line.
“We’re going to continue to try to get this group to play for 40 minutes,” Caldwell said. “If you took this game and took the 30 minutes that we really competed, it’s a different ballgame. But I can’t express enough being down in the first half and then still fighting and winning the battle in the second half. That’s a team that didn’t quit.”