Jan. 21, 2010
BATON ROUGE, La. – South Carolina suffered a 69-52 loss at No. 18/19 LSU tonight at Pete Maravich Assembly Center as the Gamecocks (10-8, 3-3 SEC) struggled from the 3-point line for the first time in four games. The Gamecocks saw the Lady Tigers (14-3, 3-2 SEC), who entered the game on a two-game skid, light up on offense to shoot 56.0 percent in the first half. Freshman center Kelsey Bone led the Gamecocks with 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting.
The Gamecocks struggled offensively out of the gate and were over-run by a hot-shooting Lady Tiger team, headlined by Katherine Graham who hit all eight of her shot attempts in the first half. The Tigers used an 18-2 run to break open a two-point game early, a surge that included nine points from Graham.
Trailing 28-10, South Carolina put together 10-2 run as Ieasia Walker and Samone Kennedy hit from outside to loosen things up inside for Bone and Ashley Bruner. With their lead cut to nine at 20-29 with 6:48 left in the period, the Lady Tigers responded with another flurry, out-scoring the Gamecocks 10-2 late in the half before consecutive South Carolina baskets brought the margin to 39-26 heading into the locker room.
The teams traded baskets early in the second half before LSU battled for a 10-2 surge that edged its lead out to 15 at 54-39 with just a tick under 13 minutes left to play. The Gamecocks responded with Valerie Nainima hitting her first 3-pointer for the night to kick off a 7-0 surge that brought the Gamecocks within eight at 54-46 two minutes later. From there, LSU’s LaSondra Barrett, who sat out most of the first half with two fouls, went to work, scoring the Lady Tigers’ next eight points to press the lead back to double digits, and the Gamecocks would get no closer before the final buzzer.
La’Keisha Sutton joined Bone in double figures with 14 points. The Gamecocks were out-rebounded, 37-30, for the first time four games and hit just 2-of-11 from beyond the 3-point line.
South Carolina continues its two-game road swing at Florida on Sun., Jan. 24, at 1 p.m.
