The LSU women’s basketball team thought it had its offensive problems sorted out with Thursday’s 68-point performance.But things took a turn for the worst for the up-and-down Lady Tigers’ attack Sunday afternoon.Fresh off a 68-53 win against Arkansas where the Lady Tigers shot 50 percent from the floor, LSU shot just 23 percent in the opening half of a 65-55 loss against Mississippi State.
“We  fought really hard today,” said LSU coach Van Chancellor in a postgame radio interview. “And I was really proud of how we fought so hard. But in the first five minutes, we got completely away from our game plan.”The Lady Bulldogs rattled off an early 16-0 run, including a pair of 3-pointers by junior guard Tysheka Grimes to take a quick 16-2 lead.Freshman forward Ayana Dunning helped LSU push the deficit to 18-9 with a free throw and a layup.But Mississippi State junior forward Chanel Mokango answered by starting a 7-0 run capped by a fadeaway 18-footer by junior guard Alexis Rack to push the Lady Bulldogs’ lead to 25-9 with six minutes left in the first half.
Rack led the Lady Bulldogs with 22 points, while Mokango scored 15 points and had four blocks.
Chancellor got his first technical foul since becoming LSU’s coach on the following possession. An LSU player was unable to draw a foul while driving to the lane and Chancellor picked up a technical for arguing with officials.Chancellor said the physicality of Sunday’s game was something he had not seen since his return to the college game.
“I’m amazed we didn’t have a fight in the game, and we almost did,” he said. “This was one of the most physical games I’ve been involved in.” The Lady Tigers were unable to receive an offensive jolt from their coach’s emotion and missed 20 of their 26 shots in the opening half.The Lady Bulldogs were equally anemic offensively the final six minutes of the half and were held scoreless by LSU. But the Lady Tigers were only able to trim four points off the lead in that span to go into halftime trailing 27-13.
The Lady Bulldogs’ defense continued to stifle the LSU offense in the second half, keeping LSU without a field goal for the opening three minutes of the half while stretching their lead to 22 points.Following a scuffle during a jump-ball that saw Donnisha Tate receive a technical foul, LSU responded with a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 12 with 12 minutes to play.Junior guard Andrea Kelly caught fire in the second half and scored a career-high 23 points — all in the second half — to cut into the lead.”Kelly was outstanding,” Chancellor said. “That’s the best she’s played all year.”As a whole, LSU’s offense played better in the final half and shot 44 percent from the field, but the Lady Tigers were unable to create enough defensive stops to cut further into Mississippi State’s lead.LSU, Mississippi State and Georgia are now tied at 5-4 for fifth place in the SEC. But things will not get easier for LSU as two of their final five games will come against ranked competition.”We’ve got to get some wins,” Chancellor said. “We’ve got to play.”
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Contact Casey Gisclair at [email protected]