GAINESVILLE, Fla. — It was senior day at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla., but it was junior Brandi McCain who stole the show as she had 21 points to lead No. 10 Florida to a 67-59 win over No. 14 LSU on Thursday night.
LSU fell to 17-9 overall and 7-6 in conference play. Florida improves to 22-4 overall and 10-4 in the SEC.
The loss marks the first time since the 1996-97 season that the Lady Tigers have lost three consecutive games. The three losses have all come against ranked foes: No. 19 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Tennessee and No. 10 Florida.
McCain hit a trio of three-pointers and was 8-of-17 from the field in scoring her 21 points. Vanessa Hayden added 16 points and a team-high 13 rebounds en route to a double-double. Monique Cardenas scored 14. Florida shot 26-of-57 from the field for 45.6 percent.
DeTrina White had 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, her first double-double of the season to lead LSU. Marie Ferdinand scored 13 to extend her streak of consecutive games with double-figure points to 30. April Brown added 13 as well.
The Lady Tigers had only 12 turnovers, but shot 33.3 percent from the field on 22-of-66 shooting and were out-rebounded 42-34.
Tamara Stocks hit an eight-foot jumper with 7:45 to play to give Florida a 56-38 lead, its largest lead of the game to that point. McCain pushed the lead to 20 points, 58-38, with her runner in the lane with just over six minutes left.
LSU closed to the lead to 61-50 with 2:42 to play when Doneeka Hodges hit a 3-pointer from the left wing. Brown got the to single-digits on a fast break lay up with 2:08 left, capping a 14-3 run.
A pair of Hayden free throws with 1:02 remaining all put Florida up 65-54. LSU scored the next five points to close to 65-59 with 16.8 seconds left, but it was too little to late. Hayden’s two free throws with 15.5 second left to put the Lady Tigers away.
The lead first hit double-digits, 33-22, for the first time on Hayden’s bucket with 18:53 to play. Hayden scored again to push the Florida advantage to 13 with 18:03 remaining.
White’s pair of free throws with 15:34 remaining, cut the lead to eight for LSU, 37-29. Hayden answered immediately as McCain found her underneath to extend the lead back to 10.
McCain hauled in a long rebound off a Brown miss and took the ball the length of the floor to lay it in as she was fouled by Kisha James. The ensuing free throw gave the Lady Gators a 47-31 advantage with 11:46 to go.
LSU, which never led in the opening frame, was tied twice, last at 14-14 with 10:57 remaining after James hit two free throws.
McCain’s 3-pointer with 2:07 left in the first half gave Florida its largest lead, 31-22, in the half. The Lady Gators took that lead into the locker room.
LSU shot just 29.0 percent in the first half while Florida managed a 50.0 percent clip. The Lady Tigers were able force 12 turnovers, but only a Ferdinand steal was converted into points off of those turnovers.
Meanwhile, Florida turned nine Lady Tiger miscues into seven points on the other end.
The Lady Tiger offense struggled early with two turnovers in the first three minutes. White finally got LSU on the board at the 16:17 mark of the first half when Brown found her open underneath for an easy lay in.
White scored the Lady Tigers first six points of the game. LSU continued to get the ball inside as Tardy scored the next six points for the Lady Tigers.
McCain, the SEC leader in 3-pointers made per game, scored six of Florida’s first 10 points as she hit two threes over the LSU zone as the two teams traded baskets early.
LSU will be back in action on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST when it travels to Columbia, S.C., for its regular-season finale against South Carolina.