It was downright ugly for the LSU women’s basketball team for much of the game Thursday night against Arkansas.
The Lady Tigers fell behind 13-0 to start the game and finished 7-of-17 from the free-throw line and 2-of-16 from 3-point range in a frustrating 53-45 loss to the Razorbacks before a crowd of 2,555 at the PMAC.
It was just the first time since 2003 that Arkansas (16-4, 4-4) beat LSU (14-8, 4-4). The last time before Thursday that LSU scored 50 points or fewer in a game was last season in a 49-46 overtime loss to Georgia.
LSU junior forward LaSondra Barrett also fell short of history Thursday, as she missed her chance to become the first LSU player to reach 1,000 career points and 500 career rebounds in the same game.
Barrett made it to exactly 1,000 points with seven on the night, but she finished with seven rebounds to equal 499 for her career. She shot a meager 3-of-17 from the field and 1-of-6 from the free-throw line.
“They took away our strong points … especially the high post or me flashing or having a shot or the pass out,” Barrett said. “They took it all away tonight, which I was not expecting.
Hats off to them; they had a better game plan than we had.”
LSU senior guard Katherine Graham scored nearly half of LSU’s points, tallying a season-best 22 on 9-of-12 from the field. She also racked up six rebounds but fouled out with 3:48 left in the game when LSU had pulled the deficit to 44-41.
Arkansas went on a 9-0 run and sunk 11 critical free throws down the stretch. Leading scorer C’eira Ricketts knocked down 7-of-9 from the charity stripe and finished with 20 points and nine rebounds.
LSU actually out-shot Arkansas 32.7 percent to 28 percent, but the Razorbacks demolished the Lady Tigers from 3-point range — 41.2 percent to 12.5 percent — and the free-throw line — 81.8 percent to 41.2 percent.
“Arkansas did not run one play or do one thing we weren’t ready for,” LSU coach Van Chancellor said. “We’ve told them all year you cannot foul. That’s a complete lack of discipline and a complete lack of coaching. When a team is not more ready to play than we were tonight, it’s nobody’s fault but my own.”
Not only did the Razorbacks use the free-throw line to ice the game, but also a rebound discrepancy of 46 to 37.
“We are still not a real seasoned crew,” Arkansas coach Tom Collen said. “They got a lead, saw it slipping away and panicked a little bit. I didn’t see it as them choking; I saw it as them wanting it so bad.”
LSU faces No. 20 Georgia on Sunday on ESPN2 at 4 p.m. in the PMAC.
 
 
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Contact Rachel Whittaker at [email protected]