BATON ROUGE, La. — Down nine points going into the fourth quarter with a depleted roster of just seven scholarship players dressed out because of injuries, the LSU women’s basketball team rallied but came up short as the Arkansas Razorbacks defeated the Lady Tigers, 48-44, at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center Thursday evening.
The Lady Tigers were without one of their leading scorers and outside shooting threats, Jenna Deemer, who missed her third straight game with an illness. Also out was Ann Jones who suffered an ankle injury at practice Wednesday. This is the first game this season that Jones has missed. The injury to Jones forced the seventh lineup change for the Lady Tigers this season.
Trailing by nine points to begin the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers scored five straight points to cut the Razorbacks’ lead to 43-42. Akilah Bethel scored two of the five points off free throws and Jasmine Rhodes converted the layup-and-one play for the other three points. As LSU fans screamed “defense” with the Lady Tigers trailing by one, Devin Cosper silenced fans momentarily in the PMAC, hitting a clutch three-pointer to put the Razorbacks back up by four. The Lady Tigers did not give up as Alexis Hyder hit a pair of free throws, cutting the deficit to 46-44.
Following a free throw from Cosper, Melissa Wolff fouled Hyder and sent her to the free-throw line. Hyder, who had previously converted on two free throws, missed a pair of charity shots with 18 seconds left in the game, forcing the Lady Tigers to foul to save time. Cosper added an additional free throw in the remaining seconds to seal the victory for the Razorbacks.
With the loss, LSU (7-12, 1-5 SEC) dropped its fourth-consecutive game this season and fourth-straight loss at home to the Razorbacks. Arkansas (9-10, 4-2 SEC) has won their last three meetings, including a pair of victories last week over nationally-ranked Tennessee and Missouri.
Hyder led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, recording her sixth career double-double. It was the second time this season that she has registered back-to-back double-doubles. Hyder’s 15-point performance also marked the fifth straight game she has scored in double figures. Akilah Bethel recorded the second double-double of her career with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Bethel also snagged a career-high five steals and has tallied 16 steals in the last five contests. Bethel and Hyder combined for four of LSU’s five blocks in the game.
For the game, the Lady Tigers shot 34 percent off 17-of-50 shooting from the floor and 53 percent from the free-throw line (10-of-19). LSU outrebounded Arkansas, 40-34, and committed 16 turnovers that led to 15 points for the Razorbacks. The Lady Tigers also outscored the Razorbacks in points in the paint, 22-20, and points off turnovers, 19-15.
Jessica Jackson, who entered the game averaging 17 points per game, finished with 15 to lead the Razorbacks in scoring. Cosper finished with 12 points behind Jackson.
The Razorbacks shot 35 percent (19-of-54) from the floor, and 33 percent (6-of-18) from three-point range. They were 4-of-11 from the charity stripe. LSU held the Razorbacks to just 3-of-11 from the field in the first quarter, but Arkansas answered in the second period, hitting 7-of-14 from the field, including a 3-of-4 mark on three-pointers.
The Razorbacks scored first in the game with a field goal from Alecia Cooley. The Lady Tigers responded with a 6-0 run before Cooley scored again. Following a media timeout with 4:31 to play, LSU used an 8-3 run to take a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter. Five Lady Tigers scored during the first quarter.
The Razorbacks chipped away at the lead with a 5-0 run to start the second quarter. Jackson scored 11 of the Razorbacks’ 17 points, including three treys. The Razorbacks hit three treys and took their first lead since the start of the game when Cosper hit a jumper with 4:34 remaining in the period for the 22-20 Arkansas advantage. Melissa Wolff hit a jumper to give the Razorbacks the four-point lead before Hyder hit a jumper at the 3:08 mark. Jasmine Rhodes sent the Lady Tigers to the locker room tied up 24-24 after grabbing a steal from Kelsey Brooks and driving for the layup.
At the half, the Lady Tigers shot 46 percent off 12-of-26 shooting from the field. LSU outrebounded Arkansas, 18-13. The Lady Tigers, however, committed eight turnovers that led to 10 points for the Razorbacks in the first half. Hyder led the Lady Tigers in scoring with eight points. Arkansas shot 40 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three-point range, something that helped the Razorbacks close the gap in the second quarter. Jackson led the Razorbacks in scoring with 11 points at the half.
Both teams struggled to score for the first three minutes in the third quarter. Cosper broke the trend, recording a layup to give the Razorbacks a 26-24 advantage. Bethel responded with a layup to tie the game again. The Razorbacks followed up behind Bethel’s basket with back-to-back field goals to take a 31-26 lead. With 4:36 to play, Hyder added two free throws to give the Lady Tigers a total of four points scored in the third quarter. The Lady Tigers went 1-for-14 from the floor in the third quarter. The Razorbacks scored six more points to take a 37-28 lead going into the fourth quarter. LSU managed to outscore Arkansas, 16-11, in the fourth quarter, but the 13-4 deficit of the third period proved to be too much to overcome.
The Lady Tigers close out the month on the road against Georgia on Sunday and Missouri on Jan. 28. LSU’s next home is game is Monday, Feb. 1 at 6 p.m.
POST-GAME QUOTES
Arkansas Head Coach Jimmy Dykes
Opening Statement
“I was very proud of our young ball club. It was another step in growing up tonight. We are fortunate to get the win. I knew coming in that LSU was 1-4 and on their home court. I knew they were not going to go down without throwing punches. You saw that the last two or three minutes. We didn’t play great but I told our kids in the locker room when you play just okay and get a road win then it’s a good win. I thought we played just okay honestly. We missed free throws and had some breakdowns defensively. We had wide open looks that didn’t go in. To Nikki (Fargas’) credit, the matchup zone makes you do some of those things. They have some kids sitting out right now and we may have caught them at the right time. A road win in this league is so valuable. We are 4-2 and we get to wake up in the morning and go back to work. We’ll try and get our fifth win. I’m very proud of how we fought and we could have given in there in the end but we made clutch shots. Devin Cosper’s shot with the shot clock winding down probably was ultimately the difference in the ball game. It gave us the boost we needed right there with about two minutes left to go.”
On having to say something to his team at the end of the first quarter…
“We opened up in zone because LSU has not been shooting the ball well. They did a good job against our zone of driving us. I said forget it and let’s get man-to-man and get after them. Let’s get on the ball a little better. We still weren’t great. From the end of the first quarter to the start of the fourth quarter we held them to 14 points. We held them to 14 points over the course of a 20-minute period. That’s pretty good. We allowed them to get 16 there in the fourth quarter on us. The middle part of the ball game is when games are decided. That’s where the meat of the game is. We held them to 14 points there and I felt good about us. We had a couple of young kids. Briunna Freeman was huge for us tonight. She only played 13 minutes but had six points. It seemed like every basket she had was a huge basket for us. She just continues to get better. Jordan Danberry only had two turnovers in 14 minutes. I told her before the ball game that I only allow one turnover every 10 minutes you’re on the floor. So if had she played six more minutes she couldn’t have had another one. She responded from a little bit of adversity early and came back. Jessica Jackson was our leading scorer with 15, and Devin stepped in and got us 12. It was a low scoring game just like LSU wanted it to be. I told our kids in the locker room before that LSU wants to win the game 48-47. I know that’s what they want to do. They are going to hold the ball a bit and grind it out. They want to shorten the shot clock. It’s what you would want to do and you should do with Nikki’s team right now. They are down on numbers. She played it exactly how you would as a coach to give your team a chance to win there at the end. Fortunately she didn’t.
LSU Head Coach Nikki Fargas
Opening Statement …
“What our team has done a great job of is really trying to control the tempo of the game, and we did a nice job of eliminating a lot of possessions that Arkansas would have had. We are keeping the game, defensively, where we wanted. Our goal in going into the game is to keep our opponents under 50 points and we were able to do so, but offensively we had a big challenge in scoring the basketball. We are going to have to come back and really look at the play action that we are running, who we are running it to and our team just stepping up and believing that they can score the basketball. What’s going to be key for us going forward is the confidence that they need to have that they can score the ball. Our defensive effort was there and we are playing hard. We are playing with six people, and that’s something that’s not ideal, but our team is very capable of winning some basketball games in the SEC.”
On available players with all of the injuries …
“We are adjusting still. Our team is adjusting to six players. We had a rotation of eight; I think we were just trying to find our way. Going into SEC play you need everybody. We need Jenna Deemer and we need Ann Jones, especially with what we lost at the beginning of the season. There is no room for us to continue to lose anybody else. We’ve got to be able to play a 40-minute game with seven able players, but six really primarily playing. We can’t have some of those middle lapses. SEC teams will take advantage of that. Arkansas did just that. They made a run when they needed to, and we weren’t able to add to that run until late in the fourth quarter.”
How do you keep from having those scoring lulls when there are so few players?
“We thought we solved that problem that we had in the past of coming out and having a bad third quarter against Florida because we played for 30 strong minutes. Tonight I thought we had an opportunity in the second quarter to really extend ourselves and we missed that opportunity, and I think we shouldn’t have come out of halftime tied. I thought we missed our defensive assignment in guarding Jessica Jackson and that allowed her to get going because up until that point they only had seven points. We are putting a lot of pressure on us not to miss any assignments on the defensive end because offensively we are being challenged to score the basketball. I thought that was when we should have separated ourselves, was in the second quarter.”
On forcing Arkansas to play the style of game that you want to play …
“We have to make sure we do those little things, make layups and free throws. Those are two areas I am concerned with right now because we are leaving double-digit points out there in those categories. Our inability to rebound at certain times really hurt us and that goes to not having another big in there. I think it hurts us not having Ann Jones to help clear some of the defensive boards that we needed. Our team did put ourselves in a position to win. We could have folded but I thought we fought back and got ourselves in position. That one three that they hit you know, the clock is winding down, it’s a one-possession game, we were going to get another possession and she (Devin Cosper) hits that three to push them to five. That was a play that really stood out for me when you saw how hard we were working when she launches a three and it goes in. Things like that happen in the game of basketball, we’ve just got to move on and be ready to play a very good Georgia team on Sunday.”
On whether Jenna Deemer and Ann Jones will be back for Georgia game …
“Right now, Jenna and Ann are both questionable. We will travel with two of our walk-ons. That will give us seven scholarship players and two walk-ons so that will give us nine bodies out there.”
On focus going forward…
“I think our focus will be simple. It’s going to be on us. Every game we’ve been in and we have not been as solid as we need to be so we are going to go back and we are going to watch us. How we are going to be better defensively, what play action we need to run to whom and how do we get better at the free-throw line. We are putting our team in late game situations. We are putting people at the free throw line. We’ve got to transfer what we do in practice over to the games. I think that’s what we are going to continue to work on until it really sticks and it becomes very comfortable for players to accept a bigger role than they were initially in. We are asking some players to step up and knock down some perimeter shots and play and score inside.”
LSU Forward Akilah Bethel
On the loss to Arkansas…
“It’s definitely frustrating when we get so close and don’t pull out the win. We are taking away just boxing out. They had a lot put-backs, a lot of offensive rebounds that ultimately hurt us. Getting together as a team and all five of us boxing out and keeping them off of the glass would eliminate some of their points.”
On the team’s mindset at the half…
“The mindset for us was to start to pull away. We had them down in the first quarter. In the second quarter they started to come back a little bit. Ultimately, we came out, get a stop and score. We have to be able to defend, but we also have to be able to put the ball in the basket. Putting together a full game is really key for us.”
LSU Forward Alexis Hyder
On the lack of depth on the bench…
“There’s no outlet for that. We have to. I don’t necessarily think it’s a struggle because we’re not doing it, looking for somebody else because we are all that we have. We have to get it done. I don’t necessarily think there’s a struggle if you’re looking somewhere else. If you’re looking for someone else, you have time to look at yourself. We all have to put effort in and make it happen as a team.”
On Arkansas’ 6-0 run in the third quarter…
“There was a timeout, and I remember saying the momentum is shifting their way. We have to notice it, and let’s change it. Teams are going to make runs. It’s our job to push back. It’s no different when we go on a run and a team wants to react. We have to be able to adjust when a run happens and not lay down.”