TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — D-D Breaux knew it would be a daunting task to defeat the home-standing Crimson Tide in its final home meet of the season, however, that didn’t change the effort her fifth-ranked Tigers gave Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum.
The Tigers (5-3, 3-2 Southeastern Conference) fell to the second-ranked Tide (7-3, 4-1 SEC), 197.825-196.475 in the teams’ final SEC dual meet of the season, however, LSU’s score was its highest on the road this season.
“We did all that we could do, but we got beat by a better team tonight,” Breaux said. “We couldn’t have had a better night on the road. I hope that this score will move us back into the No. 4 spot in the rankings to show that we’ve only been beaten by No. 1, 2 and 3 teams.”
LSU improved its Regional Qualifying score to 195.931, while Alabama scored the highest team score in the nation this season.
The Tigers return to Tuscaloosa for the SEC Championships in three weeks.
“We’ve got three weeks until SEC’s to improve a few things and fine tune what we have been doing so well for eight weeks,” Breaux said.
LSU began the meet by overcoming a major deduction on bars to score 49.05 and trail the Tide by .350-points through one rotation. MacEachern and freshman Beth Boudreaux each earned 9.85s while Stacey Wegener and Marina Degteva scored 9.80 for the Tigers.
Alabama opened the meet on vault with a season-high 49.40, led by freshman Andree Pickens who won the event with a 9.95
In the second rotation, Alabama posted another 49.40, again led by Pickens’ 9.95. Meanwhile, the Tigers kept the competition within a point with a season-high 48.850 on vault.
Leading the Tigers on vault was Kim Descalopoulis with a career-high 9.90, a perfect score for the vault that she performed. Burns added a 9.85 while Colleen Barger and Kellye Smith scored 9.725.
In the third rotation, LSU landed a 49.10 on floor and trailed the Tide by 1.275 with one event remaining. LSU was led on floor by Barger and Sharene Mamby’s pair of 9.85s along with a pair of 9.825s by Wegener and Descalopoulis.
LSU headed to beam, where the Tigers rank second in the nation, for the final rotation while Alabama finished on the floor.
For the third time this season, LSU set a school record on the apparatus as three Tigers scored at least a 9,925 for a record 49.475. Burns led LSU with a 9.95 while Wegener and Barger scored 9.925s and Boudreaux added a 9.85. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this school record is that LSU overcame an uncharacteristic fall by MacEachern in order to set it.
“I can’t say enough about the job that (assistant coach) Larissa (Libby) has done with this beam team,” Breaux said. ” She’s got them on top of that event and they will only get better.”
LSU return to action Friday, March 12 at 7 p.m. when it faces Michigan State, Illinois, and Illinois-Chicago in a quadrangle meet at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.