The LSU women’s basketball team begins a much-needed break this week after facing its second top-20 opponent of the season Sunday.
The brutal non-conference schedule continues to take its toll on the Lady Tigers, as they suffered their third loss of the season at the hands of No. 18 Ohio State, 77-68, and fell from the rankings for the first time this season.
LSU narrowed the Buckeye lead to three points with just less than four minutes left in the contest but couldn’t close the gap.
“The last four minutes of the game, that late game action … we’ve got to be efficient,” said LSU coach Nikki Caldwell. “We can’t give people wide open looks, we can’t break down and foul people and put them on the free throw line. You’ve got to make it difficult for people, and I thought we fell short in that it.”
While the Buckeye duo stole the show, a pair of Lady Tigers made their impact known, most notably freshman forward Krystal Forthan, who scored a career-high 15 points in 26 minutes.
The five-star freshman added three blocks, two steals and three rebounds to her outing, showing signs of her potential.
“[Forthan] is able to go up to her face-up game, and she was very focused,” Caldwell said. “She zeroed in on the task at hand, and she gave us that spark that we needed off the bench. She’s someone that is long and lanky and can make people play wider than what they are in their offensive defenders.”
LSU now faces a two-week break before hosting Alabama State on Dec. 11.
While the Lady Tigers hold a 3-3 record, Caldwell said they are going to “start back at our basics” on their time off and will aim to make a strong push before starting conference play in the new year.
“I don’t want their confidence to be shattered,” Caldwell said. “I want them to understand that we’re going to have losses. It’s part of any sport. But the question is, ‘Are you going to turn this around?’ We’re going to have two weeks to really fine-tune some