The Lady Tigers couldn’t keep up with a hot-shooting Vanderbilt squad Sunday in Nashville, Tenn., falling, 81-72, and extending LSU’s Southeastern Conference losing streak to four games.
“This team has got to really make a choice here because we’re at a crossroad after dropping four in the SEC,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell in a postgame radio interview.
Vanderbilt (16-5, 4-4 SEC) shot 47.4 percent from the field en route to 81 points — the highest total allowed by the Lady Tigers (14-7, 4-4 SEC) this season and the most in SEC play since conceding 102 in a triple-overtime defeat against Ole Miss on Feb. 7, 2010.
Following a 34-point explosion against Georgia, LSU held Commodore sophomore and SEC-leading scorer Christina Foggie scoreless in the first half. But Foggie opened the scoring after intermission with a three-pointer and went on to score 14 for the game.
Caldwell said Vanderbilt took advantage of the Lady Tigers’ “effort, or lack thereof,” on defense.
“I saw where they would run plays and go right back at the same person,” Caldwell said. “We’ve got to be tough enough to accept that challenge.”
A six-point Vanderbilt lead at the half would be as close as the Lady Tigers would come the rest of the way, following a 10-0 Commodores run coming out of the break.
“The start of the second half, our starters didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” Caldwell said. “We’ve definitely got to be better in that regard — starters getting us off to good start.”
The Lady Tigers made 7-of-13 three-point attempts but shot just 38.2 percent from the field, including only 34.5 percent in the first half.
“I felt like we didn’t play together, and we weren’t patient enough on the offensive end,” Caldwell said. “That was a tell-tale sign of why we weren’t executing in the first half.”
LSU racked up a season-high 34 free throws but converted on only 23 attempts.
“When you look at our percentage, we weren’t even near 70 percent,” Caldwell said. “When you get to the line that often, if you can get that percentage in the 75, 80 percent, then that definitely helps you.”
LSU junior guard Bianca Lutley sparked the Lady Tigers with her second straight career-high scoring tally, totaling 18 points in the defeat.
Senior forward LaSondra Barrett added 17 points and a team high nine rebounds.
Commodore freshman guard Kady Schrann led all scorers with a career-high 29 points, and redshirt sophomore Stephanie Holzer contributed 18 points and a game-high 15 boards.
“We can’t keep spiraling down this path,” Caldwell said. “We’re going to have to either say ‘no more’ and fix this in a hurry, or it’s going to be a very, very long season.”
LSU sophomore guard Jeanne Kenney returned to the starting lineup after missing two games recovering from a concussion suffered against Tennessee on Jan. 19. Kenney scored seven points before fouling out with 1:35 left in the second half.
The Lady Tigers return home for a three-game home stretch, starting with Florida on Feb. 2 at 6 p.m.
“We’ve got to go back to practicing hard,” Caldwell said. “There were areas where we didn’t play together, and we didn’t play extremely smart, and to me, that hurt us.”
 
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