The Tigers nearly pulled off a statement win against the undefeated, top-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks on Thursday night, but a strong fourth quarter propelled coach Dawn Staley’s team to a win in Baton Rouge.
It’s the third loss of the season so far and second in SEC play for the LSU women’s basketball team. It also represented the best opportunity to make a case to be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.
The Tigers can’t dwell on it for too long, though, as more tough SEC games are coming up. Sophomore guard Flau’Jae Johnson said the team has work to do after the loss.
“We just got work to do. We’ve got work to do as a team,” she said, per On3’s Thomas Goldkamp. “Our coaches, me being a leader, I have work to do in those moments. I think it’s just going to be continue playing together. I think we needed a game like this where we had the lead going into the half. At the end of each quarter we gave up threes. We lost by six. So tightening up on things like that. The crowd was loud and into it. And we’ve got to be able to communicate better.
“Like I said, I’m proud. That was the No. 1 team in the nation. Stacked team. But I just felt like we was almost there. We was almost there.”
Senior forward Aneesah Morrow agreed with that sentiment. After the game, she said that mental errors doomed the Tigers, particularly down the stretch.
“I would say our attention to detail and staying poised throughout the game,” Morrow said. “We had a lot of times where we let South Carolina rush us. We have to stay poised and we have to pay attention to detail.”
The Tigers must continue to look forward as next on the schedule is what could be a tricky road game against Mississippi State on Monday night.
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