With College GameDay in attendance and a national television audience tuning in, LSU’s women’s basketball team looked primed for an upset against the No. 1-ranked, undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Tigers led for nearly 33 minutes of the game, but they couldn’t close it out as they fell 76-70. With the loss, coach Kim Mulkey’s team falls to 17-3 and 4-2 in SEC play.
Both teams had a good deal of offensive success early on, but LSU seized the early momentum thanks to some slightly out-of-character three-point shooting. It led by as much as 11 in the first quarter, and the success continued into the second.
The Tigers stretched their lead back out to 11 with 1:22 to play in the half, but South Carolina managed to cut it to five before the break, in large part thanks to a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Still, LSU led 41-36 as [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] (11 points) and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] (10) scored in double figures in the half, while [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] was not far behind with nine of her own.
In the third quarter, LSU shot 58.7% to South Carolina’s 40%, but it was still outscored by one point as the Gamecocks cut the deficit to just four entering the final 10 minutes.
The fourth quarter, however, was a turning point. South Carolina outscored the Tigers by 10 points, and while the final seven minutes featured four ties as the game went back and forth, a layup from Raven Johnson with 22 seconds to go to give the Gamecocks a five-point lead proved to be the dagger.
Morrow finished with a team-high 16 points and 10 rebounds, Reese ultimately fouled out with 15 points, while [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] (13), [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag] (12) and Johnson (10) also scored in double figures.
The Tigers were out-shot and out-rebounded by slight margins in the loss.
LSU took the best team in the nation down to the wire, and while it’s an ultimately frustrating result, it should bode well for LSU as it aims to defend last year’s national title come tournament time.
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