With a crowd on 12,093 people and an electric Pete Maravich Assembly Center, the LSU Tigers fell to Southeastern Conference rival Florida Gators 197.475-197.425 Friday night.
The Tigers stumbled short of a victory for the second time this season in a hard fought meet that came down to the very last routine. 
Despite the loss, the Tigers improved as they reached a season-high score of 197.425 as well as the Tigers breaking the 197-point benchmark for the first time of the season.
“We lost but we still improved, which is the goal.” said senior all-arounder Sarah Finnegan.
While winning is the goal, the Tigers continue to take it one day at a time and focus on getting better rather than the score of each meet.
“Would we have liked a win tonight? Absolutely,” said senior all-arounder McKenna Kelley. “But our goal is not to walk out right now. Tonight was not the championship. The goal is to peak at the right time. Our goal this week was to be demanding and be aggressive and that’s exactly what we did tonight.” 
Coming off of that tough loss to Auburn last weekend, the Tigers came out ready to fight and gave it their all in what coach D-D Breaux called a “monstrous effort.”
“That was a monstrous effort tonight from everyone on this team,” Breaux said. “We could not ask these kids or the crowd for more.” 
While the Tigers certainly looked improved, the spot light continued to shine on Finnegan, who is the reigning SEC Gymnast of the Year.
Finnegan had an extraordinary night, as she won three individual titles and remains a strong leader for the Tigers.
“I had so much fun tonight, Finnegan said. I even had more fun tonight than at our Cal meet [in the season opener],” Finnegan said.
Next up, the Tigers head to Tuscaloosa for their third SEC matchup of the season as they face the Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Tide is coming off of an exciting road win against the Georgia GymDogs, pulling out a 196.900-196.875 victory. The Tigers will need to beat the Crimson Tide in order to keep their SEC championship dream alive.