BATON ROUGE – The University of Arkansas-Little Rock took advantage of a 12-plus minute field goal drought in the second half by the LSU women’s basketball team and rallied from a two-point halftime deficit to post a 70-54 win during the season opener for both teams Friday at the Maravich Center.
The Lady Tigers got a midrange jumper from Raigyne Moncrief at the 16:14 mark of the second half to knot the score at 32-32. Then, LSU went without a basket until 3:58 remaining when Ann Jones‘ jumper cut UALR’s lead to 63-48.
The two teams combined to attempt 68 free throws. LSU was 25-of-34 at the free throw line, while UALR was 23-of-34 at the charity stripe.
However, UALR connected on 21-of-50 shooting and knocked down 13 of its 24 field goal attempts in the second half. The Trojans were able to outscore LSU by a 46-28 margin in the second half and scored 36 of the game’s 53 points from the bench.
LSU was 14-of-43 from the field and hit only seven baskets during each half en route to a 32.6 shooting percentage. The Lady Tigers were led by Moncrief’s 15 points and nine rebounds.
“A lot of credit goes to Arkansas-Little Rock,” head coach Nikki Caldwell said. “I thought they came in here, and they really did a nice job of executing their game plan. Their defensive pressure really disrupted our offensive action when we were trying to run. They did a nice job too of distributing the basketball and players making shots. When you’re on the road, we talk about our team about making sure that we bring our defense and our board play. I thought defensively they did a really nice job of disrupting us.”
Rina Hill chipped in eight points, four rebounds and two steals whereas Jenna Deemer secured seven points and was LSU’s top scorer off the bench. Akilah Bethel, Sheila Boykin and Ann Jones each tallied six points from the interior for the Lady Tigers.
UALR had four players collect double figures and was paced by Kaitlyn Pratt’s 15 points. Alexius Dawn and Taylor Gault added 12 points apiece, while Ka’Nesheia Cobbins tacked on 10 points for the Trojans.
The Lady Tigers scored the first four points of the contest with Jones and Hill contributing jumpers to get LSU out to a 4-0 advantage during the first three minutes of the contest.
Gradually, the Trojans moved their way back into the contest tying the game at 4-4 two minutes later and taking their lead at 9-6 on Alexius Dawn triple and at 11-8 on a strong post move by Pratt.
Trailing 13-11 with 11 minutes to go in the first half, LSU put out its full court press for the first time and forced a Trojan timeout in the backcourt to avoid a 10-second count. The second time the Lady Tigers pressed up, it resulted in a steal in the backcourt and a Bethel layup to tie the game at 13-13 and force another UALR bench timeout.
UALR kept the lead when Cobbins found the baseline wide open for a driving layup and a follow free throw to put the Trojans up three again at 16-13.
LSU meanwhile was getting points, but all at the free throw line as their last field goal was at the 9:44 mark. Two Boykin free throws made it 20-18 and another foul put LSU back at the line at the 5:10 mark with Jasmine Rhodes was able to make one to make the Trojan lead one, 20-19. LSU would eventually tie the game at 21-all with 4:08 to in the half.
LSU made it two field goals in a row as Demmer finally got on track from the arc to give LSU a 26-24 advantage late in the half which ended with the Lady Tigers up by two.
The teams traded hoops early in the second half, but a pretty drive by Moncrief down the lane gave LSU a 30-29 lead with 17:31 to play in the game.
The game was tied for the eighth time at 34-34 but again UALR was able to drive score and get fouled to keep the lead, 37-34, with 14:15 to play and then got their biggest lead at five, 39-34, on a run out basketball by Taylor Gault at the 13:30 mark.
It appeared again in the second half that LSU would make or break the game at the line. After putting together an 11-of-14 mark in the first half, the Lady Tigers hit their first six at the charity stripe to open slice UALR’s lead to 39-38.
Both teams were in the bonus with 12:33 to remain in the game and the teams through the first eight minutes were a combined 12-of-13 at the line.
UALR put together a 16-2 spurt highlighted by 10 straight points over the next 4:59 off the clock which enabled the Trojans to stretch its lead to 58-42. The key plays were a pair of Gault jumpers 40 seconds apart which vaulted UALR to a double digit advantage. A Pratt layup capped the run and made it 55-40 at the 7:32 mark.
LSU would get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way, and the Lady Tigers dropped their season opener and home opener for the first time since 2010-11.
“It helps if we learn from it,” Caldwell said. “We’ve got to come back tomorrow and not do the same things we did today. If they can take the loss and learn from it, then we’ll be okay in the long run. If we come back tomorrow and we’re challenged again with dribble drive and we’re not guarding it like we’ve been practicing, then it becomes compounded. Now you’re looking at another loss and another loss. But if we can really say, ‘This is one game. This does not define who we are. This is not the end of the world. There are more games to be played, and there are more games to be won.’ Every day is another opportunity. Our next game is our biggest game of the season. If they can just stay in the moment and stay focused on the task at hand, we can move forward in a positive way.”
LSU continues its stretch of five games over an eight-day span to open the 2014-15 season as Sam Houston State visits the Maravich Center for a Saturday matinee.
Tip time is slated for 3:30 p.m. The game will be carried online only by SEC Network Plus via www.WatchESPN.com and the Watch ESPN app. Lyn Rollins and Victor Howell will serve as the announcing team.
The LSU Sports Radio Network will broadcast the game on its flagship station Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The broadcast featuring Patrick Wright, the voice of the Lady Tigers, also will be available for Geaux Zone subscribers at www.LSUsports.net/live.
Season tickets are on sale for $75 online at http://www.LSUtix.net/. The LSU Athletics Ticket Office can be reached at (800) 960-8587 or (225) 578-2184 and is located on the first floor of the Moran Family Center for Athletics Administration Building. Hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays.
For all of the latest news and information on Lady Tiger basketball, visit www.LSUsports.net/womensbasketball. Fans can also follow the program on its social media outlets at www.Facebook.com/LSUwbkb, @lsuwbkb and @NikkiCaldwell on Twitter, @LSUwbkb and @LSUNikkiCaldwell on Instagram.
HEAD COACH NIKKI CALDWELL
Opening Statement …
“A lot of credit goes to Arkansas-Little Rock. I thought they came in here, and they really did a nice job of executing their game plan. Their defensive pressure really disrupted our offensive action when we were trying to run. They did a nice job too of distributing the basketball and players making shots. When you’re on the road, we talk about our team about making sure that we bring our defense and our board play. I thought defensively they did a really nice job of disrupting us.”
On her reaction to today’s game…
“I don’t think surprised, you know what Arkansas-Little Rock is capable of. I was disappointed in our defensive effort. I thought that we could’ve done a much better job defensively. We struggled offensively. We didn’t necessarily hit the open player, but we also weren’t making shots. When you shoot 30 percent and you’ve got 20 turnovers, your offense is going to look really choppy. LSU has always been known as the team that – we really defensively get after people, and that’s the disheartening thing. I felt as though we could’ve done a much better job in our intensity, and our effort on the defensive end.”
On if the game time was a factor …
“No, because I thought we brought a great deal of pressure in the first half. When you hold a team to 24 points, your defense is doing something right. I just thought that in the second half, when Arkansas-Little Rock went on their run, we didn’t answer it. When we weren’t making shots to answer the run, we’re making that to dictate how we play on the other end. That’s where the game started to get away from us because we weren’t executing on the offensive end, and they were. We’ve got to move forward and move on. We’ve got a quick turnaround so we’ve got to be ready to be better, and it starts with our defense.”
On the team playing with foul trouble on the interior …
“Some of these fouls came from offensive fouls where we were moving on screens. We’ve got to work as a unit. I thought that us trying to move that extra step. Had we worked as a unit, the guards should just set that screen up and come off and let the big just stand there and run interference. Those are just things that we can clean up because those became turnovers for us. Those were momentum plays for them because there was an offensive play where they can go to the other way. Then now, I’ve got to sit my bigs.”
On the defense affecting the offense…
“You run some play action, and you need a basket to go just to get your team feeling as though they’re back in. When they were making their run at us, we’ve got to be able to answer. There were a couple of baskets that just took the life out of us. We can’t go through this season relying on a basket to determine how hard we play on the other end. Again, Arkansas-Little Rock did a nice job of really playing aggressive off the bounce. I think they may have gotten three or four and one plays. To me, those are momentum plays. Those are the things that bring positive energy to your team, and that’s when we’ve got to buckle down on the defensive end on not allow those energy plays to happen.”
On the new players getting jitters during the first game …
“It helps if we learn from it. We’ve got to come back tomorrow and not do the same things we did today. If they can take the loss and learn from it, then we’ll be okay in the long run. If we come back tomorrow and we’re challenged again with dribble drive and we’re not guarding it like we’ve been practicing, then it becomes compounded. Now you’re looking at another loss and another loss. But if we can really say, ‘This is one game. This does not define who we are. This is not the end of the world. There are more games to be played, and there are more games to be won.’ Every day is another opportunity. Our next game is our biggest game of the season. If they can just stay in the moment and stay focused on the task at hand, we can move forward in a positive way.”
LSU PLAYER QUOTES
GUARD RAIGYNE MONCRIEF
On how to improve the offensive execution …
“It starts with listening to our coach. Coach would give us a play, and we wouldn’t run it. We needed to pass the ball, drive, kick and get open shots. It starts with executing our plays.”
On the most frustrating part on offense…
“I think it started with our guard play. On defense, we couldn’t get anything going or get any stop so our offense came back the same way. We didn’t come off the screens then we made bad passes. Then, when they got us late in the shot clock, we didn’t execute like they did. I think that was the most frustrating thing.”
On moving on to the next game…
“We have to have short memory and move on. We have to work on our plays and watch film. We have to worry about the next game. This already happened so we have to get over it.”
On how to improve the team’s offense in the half court …
“We just have to communicate better. We have to communicate for our defense to have stops tomorrow. We have to read scouting reports and see who their Batman and Robin (primary players) are.”
On playing the first game of the season …
“I got the jitters out in the beginning and started feeling good. We started off pretty good. At the end, it was just about doing better.”
On her role moving forward…
“It’s all about who has the hot hand. It doesn’t matter who it is. Tomorrow might not be my day. We just have to see who is hot. It might be Anne Pedersen tomorrow.”
On opening up the perimeter game…
“It starts with the guards. We just have to execute the plays better because it starts with us. If we don’t execute plays, we don’t get the shots off. I feel like we could have made more three’s if we would have gotten the ball there.”
GUARD RINA HILL
On improving the flow of the game…
“I think it starts with executing screens. We didn’t get open at the right time so the passes were off. I think all of the little things mattered.”
On UALR playing tough defense…
“I think they just outworked us, and we never got up to their intensity level. We weren’t defending the dribble drive so they flew by. That made us over rotate our defense which gave them a wide shot. We also never boxed out and had some bad close outs.”
On the team moving onto the next game…
“We can’t waste this game. We just have to move on and improve on what we struggled in this game. We have to try and execute one-by-one.”
On getting ready for the game tomorrow…
“It might be a little hard for us to move on since it just happened today. I think there are a lot of things to improve on so we can try and focus on boxing out. There are little things we can do one-by-one.”
UALR Head Coach Joe Foley
On being able to defeat an SEC team on the road…
“Well, that’s the reason we come down here. This is where you learn, and you get better by playing people who are better than you are. LSU’s going to have a great team. Their quickness is very phenomenal, and we were fortunate enough to play really well. We probably played above our heads today. That’s what you got to do sometimes, but it was a great game for us. It gives us a lot of confidence to be able to do this so I’m really excited about it.”
On the biggest improvement for the team moving forward…
“For our ball club, it’ll help our confidence knowing that all the things as a coach when you are working at this part of practice, you’re hammering so many things into them. This type of win gives the kids instant belief in what you’re trying to accomplish especially when you do it against a Top 25 caliber team. It helps our confidence a lot as players so it’ll help boost us where it opens you up to do more things and try more things and to listen a little bit better.”
On how good he thinks his team can be…
“Well, it’s the first game of the year. There are a lot of ups and downs in the season. It’s a long season. You want to get off to a good start and that helps. Like I said, it helps build confidence early, but there are a lot of things that can derail any team. It’s just one game, and its fun but there’s a lot of them left.”