BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team fell short of completing the comeback at home against No. 16 Kentucky, losing 64-60.
With the loss, LSU falls to 11-6 overall and 2-3 in SEC play. Kentucky improves to 16-3 overall and 3-2 in the league.
After being down as much as 16 in the first quarter, Jaelyn Richard-Harris drained three treys in a row to close out the first quarter. The 9-0 run by Richard-Harris pulled LSU within seven points, 21-14.
The Lady Tigers kept the score fairly close for the remainder of the game until Kentucky’s Keke McKinney hit a corner three to put away the game in the final seconds. The Wildcats followed up with a free throw to pull ahead by four as the clock ran out.
“We have to make sure that we as a team take full responsibility for our lack of coming ready and getting into the game,” said LSU head coach Nikki Fargas. Fargas said that what hurt the Lady Tigers the most was the slow start on offense.
Faustine Aifuwa scored a career-high 19 points, including nine-of-10 from the field, with nine boards. Richard-Harris finished with 16 points and shot 4-for-6 from the three-point line.
Ayana Mitchell added 14 points and 10 rebounds to record her ninth double-double of the season.
Aifuwa scored seven straight points for LSU in the second quarter to help put the Lady Tigers within five heading into the break, 31-25.
LSU put together a 23-point third quarter and Jailin Cherry sunk a three-pointer with 16 seconds left in the third to cut Kentucky’s lead to 50-48.
The Lady Tigers finally tied the game in the fourth quarter on a jumper from Shanice Norton, 52-52, with 7:45 left. With 45 seconds on the clock, Mitchell made a crucial layup to tie the game back up at 60-60. However, the Lady Tigers were unable to complete the upset.
LSU had 17 steals and was able to assert their dominance on the boards, outrebounding Kentucky 35-26.
The Lady Tigers will hit the road to face Alabama on Sunday, Jan. 20 with tip-off set for 1 p.m. on the SEC Network.
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