Coming into Sunday’s matchup against No. 5 South Carolina, LSU was looking to surpass its Southeastern Conference win total from last season.
Unfortunately for LSU (14-4, 3-2 SEC) the Gamecocks (15-1, 5-0 SEC) were too much, as the Lady Tigers lost 84-61.
Even though South Carolina played without the services of its star forward A’ja Wilson, the Gamecocks were still able to defeat LSU for the seventh straight time.
LSU struggled early defensively, allowing up 27 points in the first quarter.
The Lady Tigers could not find an answer to slow down South Carolina’s forward Alaina Coates in the paint. LSU opened the game in a 2-3 zone in hopes of neutralizing Coates, but to no avail.
Coates ended the first half scoring 17 of her 24 points points on 5-of-6 shooting and six rebounds.
“We’ve had to learn how to play without A’ja,” Coates said. “But at the same time we need to go into every game with the mentality whether we have all of our players or if we’re missing some people. It’s just a mindset we need to continue to have going forward against anybody we play.”
LSU coach Nikki Fargas lauded Coates’ talents.
“I really felt as though Coates set the tone inside,” LSU coach Nikki Fargas said. “We’ve got to be more disciplined in that area because she is one of the best players in the country. We got to pay close attention to how the ball gets to players like her. I thought we didn’t do a great job of disrupting the ball handler.”
LSU trailed 27-18 at the end of the first quarter.
“Defense. We didn’t play any defense,” said junior guard Raigyne Moncrief. “We started turning the ball over and they got transition points. Once the energy got in their hands, it was over from there.”
Foul trouble also became an issue for LSU in the first half. The Lady Tigers committed a total of 13 fouls, compared to a mere four for the Gamecocks.
LSU’s defensive woes continued in the second quarter, allowing South Carolina to add another 22 to its point total.
Despite a 63 percent field goal percentage, the Lady Tigers still found themselves down 49-36 at the half.
LSU continued to trail in the third quarter of action. The defense improved for the Lady Tigers in the third quarter by relinquishing only 15 points. However, LSU struggled on offense field goal percentage tumbled as the Lady Tigers shot 30 percent in the third quarter.
In the fourth, LSU went a span of 4:38 without scoring a basket and South Carolina would end up to outscore LSU 20-12 in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Tigers get a day off before preparation begins for Kentucky.
“We’ll break down some film that we think can help this team get better to help them prepare for Kentucky and you don’t allow it to linger,” Fargas said. “You take what happened, you learn from it, and you move on.”
