ATHENS, Ga. — Looking sluggish to start the game after a long trip to Athens, Ga., the LSU women’s basketball team dropped its Southeastern Conference opener, 72-56 to nationally ranked Georgia on Thursday night in Stegeman Coliseum.
The loss dropped the Lady Tigers to 7-5, while Georgia remains undefeated and improved to 11-0. LSU has a week off before facing nationally ranked Florida on Jan. 10 in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center at 7 p.m.
What should have been an easy flight and bus ride for the Lady Tigers from Baton Rouge to Athens turned into a marathon 16-hour trip from door-to-door. Due to a severe winter storm in the deep south, the Lady Tigers spent four hours in the Baton Rouge airport waiting for their flight to Atlanta before deciding to abandon hopes of catching a flight and spending over 11 hours on a bus.
“The long trip was really no excuse for how we played to open the game,” said LSU head coach Sue Gunter. “One of the things that we discussed as a coaching staff before the game started was that we could not allow them to get out to the big lead. We needed to get out to a good start and we just didn’t and we can’t allow that to happen against a good team. We can not spot a team the caliber of Georgia a 14 or 15 point lead and expect to win.”
Poor shooting by LSU to start the game along with exceptional shooting by the Lady Bulldogs put the Lady Tigers in a hole early that they could not overcome. Despite playing outplaying Georgia in the second half, LSU could not come back overcome the slow start.
“Now we just half to return home and get ready for Florida,” continued Gunter. “There is still hope for us. I still think that we can play with anybody, but we have no margin for error from this point on.”
A trio of Lady Tigers were in double-figures scoring, led by Aiysha Smith with 15 points and tied a game-high with eight rebounds. Ke-Ke Tardy and Doneeka Hodges each had 12 points for LSU. Temeka Johnson had a career-high eight assists to go along with her six points.
Georgia was led by Kara Braxton with 16 points, one of three Lady Bulldogs in double-figures.
Georgia started the game on a 14-0 run on 7-of-8 shooting, including a pair of three-pointers by Mary Beth Lycett. The Lady Tigers were 0-for-6 from the floor before finally getting on the board with just over 16 minutes remaining in the first half on a second chance layup by Smith.
Georgia extended the lead to 19-2 before Doneeka Hodges nailed a three-pointer from the left side with just over 13 minutes remaining in the first half. Braxton had the Lady Tigers’ number, racking up 14 points in the first 11:30, extending Georgia’s lead to 29-14.
A 4-0 run gave Georgia the 33-14 lead with 7:41 remaining. Eight straight free throws by LSU cut the lead to 35-22 as the Lady Tigers were a perfect 11-of-11 from the line in the first half.
A 12-2 run by Georgia ended the half as a driving layup by Tardy at the 4:54 mark gave LSU its only points from the field over the final 9:44 on 1-of-14 Lady Tiger shooting. LSU trailed 47-24 at the half.
LSU was held to 6-of-36 (.167) shooting in the first half and was unable to penetrate to the basket. After allowing only five blocked shots in any one game entering the contest, Georgia blocked eight Lady Tiger shots in the first half.
The trouble continued for the Lady Tigers to start the second half as LSU committed three turnovers and had two shots blocked before Smith got a layup to put LSU on the board, 49-26.
Finally able to get a run going, LSU outscored Georgia, 11-5, including five points by Doneeka Hodges, to cut the lead to 15 points, 56-41, the closest margin in almost 15 minutes of play.
Georgia built its lead back to 20 points before the pair traded baskets and free throws to end the game.
LSU rebounded in the second half to outscore the Lady Bulldogs 32-25 in the second half on 52-percent shooting from the field, while holding Georgia to 36-percent shooting.