LSU women’s basketball trailed almost the entire game in a 52-46 loss to No. 22 Missouri.
Missouri (17-4, 4-4 Southeastern Conference) won the tip and scored the first shot 14 seconds into the game. LSU (8-13, 2-6 SEC) countered with a layup by junior forward Alexis Hyder to tie the game at two apiece with 8:14 to go in the first quarter.
Missouri answered with a 14-2 run in the first quarter, taking a 16-4 lead. Senior Anne Pederson cut the lead to a nine-point deficit with a jumper with 6 seconds left in the quarter before Missouri hit a three at the buzzer to go up 22-10 going into the second.
“Our first five minutes in the game, we missed coverages and turned the ball over in the first quarter and they scored 10 points off of our turnovers,” said LSU women’s basketball coach Nikki Fargas. “They got their transition game going and scored about 12 or 13 points in transition.”
Missouri extended its lead to 27-10 in the second quarter by holding LSU scoreless for the first 5:08 of the quarter.
LSU would tighten the score to 27-16 before Missouri scored the final six points of the half to head into the break with a 33-16 lead.
Only three LSU players scored in the first half. Hyder and Pederson had six apiece and senior forward Akilah Bethel scored four. LSU was outrebounded 18-14.
LSU came out hot in the second half scoring the first 15 points and keeping Missouri scoreless until 2:34 remaining in the third quarter. LSU cut the lead to just one before Missouri extended it to 37-35.
In the third, LSU shot 8-12 from the field, while Missouri was 1-9. In the first half, LSU was 7-20, while Missouri was 12-28.
“The second half, we came out and really outplayed a very good Missouri team,” Fargas said. “We had the game in a one possession situation and we definitely could have pushed ahead, but offensively we started to struggle with our play action.”
Missouri pushed their lead to 43-35 as LSU’s offense continued to struggle, preventing LSU from scoring for the first 7:26 of the fourth quarter before Hyder hit two free throws. LSU would not score again until Hyder hit a jumper with 36 seconds left.
Hyder scored all but three of LSU’s fourth quarter points. Hyder tallied a career-high 23 points along with five rebounds and five steals, becoming the first Lady Tiger to score more than 20 points.
“[Hyder] did a nice job being that go to player for us,” Fargas said. “She showed her face up game, her ability to knock down jump shots.She also showed her ability to score in the paint. I was very pleased with her shooting 7-7 from the free throw line. I thought that was an area where she really struggled at and tonight she was able to knock down those free throws for us.”
Pederson had six points and four rebounds, and Bethel contributed four points and nine rebounds. Junior guard Rina Hill notched seven points, six rebounds and two assists.
LSU shot 40.9 percent from the field, while Missouri shot 16-42 for 38.1 percent. Missouri was 10-27 from beyond the three-point line.
LSU was without sophomore guard Jenna Deemer for the fifth-straight game.
The Lady Tigers will face Auburn on Feb. 1 in the PMAC.
You can reach Jarrett Major on Twitter @Jarrett_tdr