Lady Tigers Lose Heartbreaker to No. 22 Texas A&M

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The LSU women’s basketball team fell to No. 22 Texas A&M by a score of 59-55 on Thursday evening in College Station.

With the loss, LSU falls to 14-9 overall and 5-6 in the SEC. Texas A&M improves to 19-5 and 8-4 in conference play.

Khayla Pointer led LSU with 21 points and added seven rebounds and five assists. Faustine Aifuwa recorded a double-double, the second of her career, with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“It was a hard-fought game down the stretch,” said LSU head coach Nikki Fargas. “You look at the difference in the game and it was our inability to score. We got some really good looks. The ball just didn’t bounce our way tonight.”

The Lady Tigers shot just 35 percent from the floor and their scoring woes caught up with them in the fourth quarter.

LSU and Texas A&M traded leads for much of the first half until the Lady Tigers were able to pull away with about three minutes remaining in second quarter. A three-pointer from Jailin Cherry sparked a 9-2 run for LSU after being down 21-20.

LSU closed out the first half with a six-point lead and continued to build on that coming out of the break. Pointer continued to be a threat all over the court scoring eight points in the third and pushed LSU to a 10-point lead at the four-minute mark in the third quarter.

Texas A&M responded by going on a 6-0 run to cut LSU’s lead to 45-41.

The Lady Tigers struggled in the fourth quarter allowing the Aggies to take a 50-49 lead with 6:47 left in the game. Texas A&M closed out the game on a 9-2 run.

“We struggled to score in the paint tonight and that’s something that we had found success in doing,” Fargas said.

The Lady Tigers beat the Aggies on the boards, outrebounding A&M 44-35. LSU was also able to take care of the basketball only committing eight turnovers in the game.

Next up, LSU will face Vanderbilt on Sunday, February 17 with tip off set for 5 p.m. in Nashville, Tennessee.