The LSU women’s basketball team was unable to overcome an early deficit as it fell 59-66 to No. 18 South Carolina Thursday night at Carolina Coliseum.
The Lady Tigers (11-7, 2-3 Southeastern Conference) have now seen six of their seven losses occur away from the PMAC and are now 2-6 in road games.
LSU coach Nikki Caldwell said her team performed formidably against the Top-25 Gamecocks (15-3, 3-2 SEC).
“I saw an LSU team that fought,” Caldwell said in a post-game radio interview. “They played together. They tried to do everything that we asked of them.”
Unfortunately for Caldwell, her team’s performance was not enough to pick up the win.
LSU followed a recent trend in its road contests by playing a perpetual game of catch-up, starting when it fell behind 9-19 in the first half.
But the Lady Tigers fired back quickly with a 13-3 run capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers from LSU senior guard Adrienne Webb to tie the game at 22.
LSU fell behind again early in the second half, only to make another comeback and take a 50-48 lead with just more than seven minutes to play in the game.
But the Gamecocks struck back with a 9-0 run, and the Lady Tigers were unable to recover.
LSU committed 18 turnovers to South Carolina’s 10. The Gamecocks were able to come away with 19 points off of these turnovers.
“Our turnovers led to layups for them, and that disrupted us a little bit with our offensive execution,” Caldwell said.
LSU junior forward Theresa Plaisance led LSU in scoring for the 11th time this season with 18 points to go with nine rebounds, an assist and a block.
“We tried to establish Theresa, and I thought she did a great job of trying to be that presence in the paint for us again,” Caldwell said. “She is somebody who we’re going to continue to go to. She played with great composure.”
Senior guard Ieasia Walker led South Carolina with a game-high 24 points and five steals.
Webb and senior guard Bianca Lutley also had big nights for the Lady Tigers, putting up 14 and 16 points, respectively. Webb also contributed with seven defensive rebounds.
LSU is 2-3 in SEC play, putting the Tigers at No. 9 in the conference.
Despite the loss, Caldwell anticipated success in the future.
“This team is playing now at a different level than what we played in the past, and we’re just going to build from this and move forward,” Caldwell said.
LSU will look to bounce back from the defeat and prove Caldwell’s point Sunday when it comes back to the PMAC and hosts Vanderbilt.
Contrary to their play on the road, the Lady Tigers have been tough to beat at home, suffering just one defeat in the PMAC – a 64-66 overtime thriller to Tulane.
