BATON ROUGE — For the second consecutive week a top five team came to the Maravich Assembly Center to face the LSU gymnastics team. And for the second consecutive week, a top five team fell, as the Tigers stunned fourth-ranked Alabama 196.925-196.575 before 2,009 fans.
“This is a really big win for us,” said LSU head coach D-D Breaux. “We executed extremely well tonight, we never put ourselves in positions where we hurt ourselves. We had a plan to stay with them out of the first rotation and we led from the second rotation on. We had no margin for error and we really didn’t make any mistakes.”
Heading into the meet, Breaux knew that she would have to keep her team close on the opening rotation with LSU starting on vault and Alabama on bars, an event they entered leading the nation. Breaux hoped to keep her team within .300 of the Tide and the Tigers were able to do that.
LSU opened with a solid 48.875 on vault behind a trio of 9.825s from Marina Degteva, Kristin Uransky and Shanyn MacEachern. At the same time, Alabama posted a score of 49.025, keeping the Tigers within .150 and Breaux’s intended goal.
As the teams moved to the bars, however, both squads began to heat up. LSU matched its school record on the bars with a score of 49.550 to seize the lead at the midway point.
LSU counted four scores of 9.90 or better, as Degteva started the string with a 9.925, followed by a 9.90 from Uransky and 9.95s from Beth Boudreaux and Sharene Mamby.
Alabama kept the pressure on the Tigers, however, and responded with a 49.200 on vault led by a victorious 10.0 from All-American Andree Pickens. LSU led after two rotations by a score of 98.425-98.225.
The tension began to mount on the third rotation, as Alabama fired a 49.250 on the floor behind a pair of 9.925s in the fifth and sixth spots from Alexis Brion and Kristin Sterner.
The Tigers nearly matched the effort with a 49.100 on beam, putting themselves against the wall after absorbing a fall from Adrienne Couret in the first spot. LSU hit five consecutive routines led by a 9.825 from Lauren Companioni, a 9.85 from Boudreaux and a 9.875 from Rebecca Lightsey.
It appeared that the Tigers would trail by .050 heading into the final rotation, but an overrule on an appeal by Breaux on Shanyn MacEachern’s score gave the Tigers a 147.525-147.475, as they headed to floor.
LSU put an exclamation point on the competition with a season-best 49.400 on floor behind a pair of 9.925s from victors Rachel Franzella and Companioni, both freshmen and both earning the first victories of their career.
LSU travels to Colorado next weekend for a showdown with 16th-ranked Denver. The Tigers are returning the visit after handing the Pioneers a 195.450-194.275 defeat in Baton Rouge a year ago.