After almost single-handedly leading the LSU women’s basketball team to back-to-back wins against ranked teams, junior guard Danielle Ballard became mortal once again in the Lady Tigers’ 75-58 loss against No. 5 Tennessee on Thursday in Knoxville.
Although Ballard and sophomore guard Raigyne Moncrief led the Lady Tigers (10-9, 4-3 Southeastern Conference) with 15 points apiece, LSU’s defense could not contain the Lady Volunteers (16-3, 6-0 SEC).
“I think the one thing we talked about after the game was we didn’t have that same type of defensive intensity, and that just gets after you,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “We had to play a lot of our gap defense that left us a little more exposed inside, but we still didn’t have that tenacity that we have been playing with. I feel like we came out and we were a little flat tonight.”
After leading more than 50 minutes in the first halves of their last three games, the Lady Tigers allowed Tennessee to take the lead immediately and never challenged the Lady Vols defensively.
In the first half, Tennessee shot 51.9 from the field, and senior center Isabelle Harrison led the Lady Vols with 11 points in the first half.
Although the Lady Tigers forced 11 turnovers in the first half, the inability of LSU’s defense to shut down Tennessee put the Lady Tigers behind at the half for the first time in three games.
Ballard, the Lady Tigers’ offensive rock for the last few contests, scored only four points in the first half and did not score from the field until she hit a layup with 4:30 remaining in the half.
Sophomore guard Rina Hill stepped up for the Lady Tigers with 12 points and helped fill the hole left by the injury of leading scorer senior guard DaShawn Harden.
“Rina Hill did a nice job of being steady for us and being aggressive,” Caldwell said. “I thought she didn’t play scared at all. She was in there helping with the post game. She did a nice job of rotating over when they did try to go inside, and she got some steals and some deflections.”
Tennessee set the tone in the second half by starting off with a 13-2 run, putting the Lady Vols ahead 45-28 with 15:29 remaining in the half. The Lady Vols came out firing in the second half, shooting 61.1 percent from the field.
Harrison exploded in the second half with 14 points and four rebounds. Last season, Harrison led Tennessee with three double-doubles against LSU, averaging 19.3 points and 11 rebounds per game.
“The one thing I will say is that I thought [senior forward] Sheila Boykin really tried to stand her ground in there,” Caldwell said. “I think some calls could went another way where [Harrison] could have possibly been in foul trouble. A lot of credit though to Harrison for making the shots she did. I thought Boykin really was playing tough in there, and she was taking a lot of hits.”
Although the Lady Tigers did make a run late in the game, they were only able to cut Tennessee’s lead to 10 points with 3:04 remaining.
The defeat marks the first loss for the Lady Tigers since their 55-48 loss to then-No. 9 Texas A&M on Jan. 11, and it drops the team to 3-2 since Ballard’s return against Vanderbilt on Jan. 8.
“We’ve been at a lot of the top teams in our conference and the country,” Caldwell said. “Our kids are going to have to take this weekend to take a step away from basketball for a bit and get refocused on what to do in this next stretch.”