WBB: Ags struggle on senior day, fall to LSU 67-52

For all the success Texas A&M has had in its inaugural year in the SEC, the Aggies have underperformed against their rivals from Louisiana.

That trend continued on Sunday as the No. 13 Texas A&M women's basketball team dropped a disappointing contest on senior day to the visiting LSU Tigers, 67-52, in front of 7,678 fans at Reed Arena. With the loss, A&M finishes the regular season at 21-9 overall and 11-5 in SEC play.

"It's hard being a senior and losing on senior night," said A&M senior forward Cierra Windham. "You could definitely tell in the crowd how they were frustrated as much as we were. I think they wanted us to go out with a win just as much as we did."

Freshman Danielle Ballard scored 15 points and pulled down 11 boards for LSU, and center Theresa Plaisance poured in 16 — including two-threes — to lead the Tigers (19-10, 10-6).

Kelsey Bone was held below her average, but led the Aggies in scoring with 13.

"I would like to credit our post game for playing some great defense on a great player in Bone," said LSU head coach Nikki Caldwell. The first time we played, Kelsey Bone just went to work in the second half and we couldn't guard her."

The Aggies limited the Tigers' offense through the first 15 minutes of play and held a 24-11 lead at the 4:32 mark of the first half. However, a 9-0 LSU run over the last 3:36 of the first pulled the Tigers within four at the break.

"I thought early on we were hedging screens perfectly and forcing them into bad shots," said A&M head coach Gary Blair. "They adjusted their offense and their kids decided that what was going to work was playing one-on-one basketball off the pick-and-roll. We just weren't physically able to stay with them in one-on-one situations."

LSU continued its hot streak in the second half, capturing their first lead of the game on a free throw by Ballard with 18:34 remaining. Over the next three minutes, the Tigers would grow their lead to seven, holding a 36-29 advantage with 15:22 left to play.

A&M would rally three times in the second half, closing the gap to two once and tying it twice, the latest at 44 on a Bone jumper with 9:38 remaining.

However, LSU always seemed to have an answer.

Plaisance hit a three to break a 29-29 tie with 17:24 remaining, Bianca Lutley converted an and-one opportunity with 13:30 remaining after the Ags cut the lead to two, and Jeanne Kenney hit a tough jumper with 9:24 remaining to give LSU the 46-44 lead, each time taking the wind out of the fired up Reed Arena crowd.

"I felt that when we finally got clicking in the second half, we had no stops," said Blair. "They were coming right back down and scoring on us in an easier fashion than we scored on them. All of a sudden, instead of having that crowd carry us on, they made their offensive run and shot 60% in the second half."

LSU outscored the Aggies 21-8 to close the game and locked up the six-seed in next weekend's SEC Tournament in the process.

The loss — coupled with a victory by Georgia on Sunday — knocks A&M down to the four-line for next weekend's tournament, where the Aggies will face five-seed South Carolina (a team they beat 50-48 in Columbia) or the winner of the Mississippi State-Alabama, 12-13 matchup.

"Am I excited about being the four-seed? Absolutely not," Blair stated. "But I'm more disgusted that we lost three straight games. Particularly our last one on our home court in front of a great crowd."