BATON ROUGE – The LSU women’s basketball team fell at home to No. 6 Mississippi State by the score of 68-35 on Thursday night.
With the loss, the Lady Tigers fall to 12-8 overall and 3-5 in the Southeastern Conference. Mississippi State improves to 20-1 and 8-0 in conference play.
Junior Mercedes Brooks scored a team-high 11 points and shot 50 percent from the three-point line.
Mississippi State made a statement early in the first quarter and LSU struggled to find an answer.
MSU jumped out to a quick 8-0 start with back-to-back three pointers by Andra Espinoza-Hunter.
“We weren’t dialed in,” said LSU head coach Nikki Fargas.
LSU dug itself a hole in the first quarter trailing 21-0 with two minutes remaining in the first until Yasmine Bidikuindila put the Lady Tigers on the board.
The Lady Tigers struggled getting shots to fall in shooting just 21 percent from the field, but also had trouble on the defensive side of the ball.
‘We didn’t lock into the game plan defensively,” Fargas said. “A lot of credit to Mississippi State.”
LSU put together its best quarter in the fourth, outscoring MSU 14-9. The Lady Tigers were able to hold MSU’s Teaira McCowan to just two points in the second half.
LSU will look to bounce back with two upcoming home games against Missouri and Arkansas. The Lady Tigers will host Missouri on Monday, February 4, with tip-off set for 6 p.m.