TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — When facing the top teams in the nation, particularly on the road, there is little or no margin for error. The LSU gymnastics team learned that lesson Friday evening, as a sluggish start was too much to overcome, as the 11th-ranked Tigers fell to No. 2 Alabama 197.350-194.700 before 8,651 fans at the Coleman Coliseum.
“It’s very disappointing, we didn’t perform like we needed to tonight in order to be competitive,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We didn’t give them a competition tonight unfortunately. We’re a much better team than that, we certainly didn’t show it tonight, however.”
Despite the loss, LSU (2-2 overall, 1-2 SEC) recorded its second highest total of the season, while Alabama (9-1-1) came up with a huge night, posting the second highest score in the nation this season.
The Tigers started out slowly, faltering on what had been their best event through the first three meets of the season, scoring a 48.525 on bars, a full point below what they registered a week ago. Lindsay Beddow and Marina Degteva came up with identical 9.825s, while Beth Boudreaux and Amanda Mueller contributed 9.80s, but the Tigers were forced to count a 9.275 which eliminated any chance of scoring over 49 in the event.
“The bars killed our momentum right off the bat,” added Breaux. “It took any chance of putting us into a competitive situation and it set the tone for the meet.”
LSU rebounded with a strong showing up vault, coming up with their second highest score of the season in the event, a 48.600. Adrienne Couret scored a career-best 9.80 while Degteva chipped in with a 9.775.
At the same time, however, Alabama opened the meet on fire and scored better than 49 on both vault and bars. The Tide opened with a 49.250 on vault and followed that with a 49.375 on bars to give them a commanding 98.625-97.125 lead at the midway point. LSU settled down and came up with a strong floor rotation and scored a 49.050, their second highest score of the season, behind another strong outing from Nicki Arnstad who scored a 9.90.
Degteva added a 9.85 and Boudreaux and Adrienne Couret both received 9.825s.
Alabama continued to sizzle, however, and scored a 49.325 on beam to set themselves up for a 197-point night.
LSU closed the evening out with a 48.525 on beam behind a 9.80 from Arnstad and a 9.775 from Brooke Cazeaux.
Alabama put the exclamation point on a near flawless evening with a 49.400 on floor to give them only the second 197-point score in the NCAA this season.
The Tigers return home next Friday when Towson State, Centenary and Texas Woman’s University come to the Maravich Assembly Center for a 7 p.m. tilt.
Team Scoring – 1, Alabama, 197.350. 2, LSU, 194.700.
Vault — 1, Alabama, 49.250. 2, LSU, 48.600.
Bars — 1, Alabama, 49.375. 2, LSU, 48.525.
Beam — 1, Alabama, 49.325. 2, LSU, 48.525.
Floor — 1, Alabama, 49.400 . 2, LSU, 49.050.