LSU women struggle to score in road loss to South Carolina | LSU

Columbia, Sc – sc – Once again LSU women’s basketball team fought for South Carolina.

And once again, it didn’t fall into picking up a win over Gamecocks. This time, scoring matches and bad problems convicted the No. 5 Tigers’ disturbed bids pending out a 66-56 loss on Friday and sending them stumbled to a frustratingly familiar position.

LSU haven’t beaten South Carolina since 2012. Under Coach Kim MulkeyIt’s now winless in five matchups against Gamecocks.

The top-five matchup was originally scheduled for Thursday, but the historic winter storm that swept through the Golf South region on Tuesday forced the Southeastern conference to push its Tipoff time to Friday. LSU moved back a day of practice, while Baton Rouge received his biggest snowfall of 130 years and then waited for roads to thaw before it flew to Columbia.

There waited No. 2 Gamecocks (19-1, 7-0 SEK), eager to stack another win on top of the 41-point blowout they earned over No. 15 Oklahoma on Sunday.

LSU gave them a harder fight, but its violation could not maintain an effective start.

The Tigers converted 10 of their first 20 field target attempts and then missed 32 of the 40 they tried across the second and third quarter. The South Carolina violation was marginally more productive over the same stretch – 10 of 35 from the field – but it capitalized with 22 points out of 17 LSU sales and found a source of easy scoring that propelled it for the victory.

South Carolina operated as it typically does, with balanced scoring outputs from a deep rotation of players. No contributor scored more than 14 points and eight ended with at least five. Gamecocks’ bench tiled in 31 points – 29 more than the LSU reserves.

When LSU needed offense, it turned to its two star guards, each of which cooled after finding hot starter. Flau’jae Johnson maneuvered his way to 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting, and Williams found probably open space on the circumference to add another 13 points on 5-of-17 shooting.

But the tigers didn’t get much score from the rest of their contributors. The Aneesah Morrow enthusiasted after shooting 6 of 19 from the field, and Kailyn Gilbert – who usually gives a shock of offense from the bench – ended with only two points. Four of lsus five starters picked up at least three errors.

In the first half, what started as a battle for two productive, effective offenses eventually became a physical, slurry game. LSU missed 14 consecutive field targets in the second quarter and fell into a score drought that spans the last five minutes before the break. It was lucky to be only down 33-30 at the start of the third-quarter-South Carolina, who hit 9 of her first 16 field goals, managed to convert only 3 out of 17 quarter field attempts.

But LSU did not receive enough score from contributors not called Johnson or Williams to take advantage. This duo accounted for 18 of Tigers’ first 30 points. The LSU bench scored first before the 4:09 mark in the third quarter.

In the next few belongings after this bucket, South Carolina made a five-point lead to a 10-point advantage and then spent the fourth quarter of preserving it.

LSU has dropped 17 straight matches for South Carolina, who has now won 64 equal seasonal competitions in regular season and 54 consecutive SEC matchups this season. Gamecocks suffered their last loss at the Colonial Life Arena on December 3rd 2020.

To win the SEC season in regular season, LSU needs South Carolina to lose at least two of his nine remaining league games while walking undefeated. But over the past six seasons, South Carolina is 84-3 in seasonal matches against conference opponents.

LSU has a chance to jump back at. 15 Sunday, when scheduled to host Texas A&M on short rest.