By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Coaches don’t like to lose games.
But they especially don’t like to let a lingering loss lead to another immediate defeat, especially when there are just 48 hours between games.
When LSU and South Carolina agreed to postpone Thursday’s game in Columbia until Friday because of the snowstorm that shut down Baton Rouge for two days, the Tigers’ Sunday home game against Texas A&M had all the makings of a trap game.
After A&M, playing at home, handed Kentucky its first SEC loss of the season on Thursday, LSU lost for the 17th straight time vs. the No. 2 ranked Gamecocks on Friday.
Fatigued and with just one day to prepare, the No. 5 Tigers seemed like prime candidates to be tagged with a second consecutive loss — as happened a year ago when they lost at home to South Carolina and then were upset at Mississippi State.
That’s why LSU head coach Kim Mulkey made the following conclusion late Sunday afternoon after her tired team staggered across the finish line a 64-51 winner over the Aggies before a Pete Maravich Assembly Center gathering of 11,061.
“I’m glad we were at home,” Mulkey declared. “You’ve just got to grind. There’s going to be other games like this.”
For the second straight game, as in the 66-56 loss to South Carolina, LSU shot terribly. After the Tigers (21-1, 6-1 SEC) had the worst shooting performance (29.9 percent from the field) in Mulkey’s LSU tenure vs. the Gamecocks, the Tigers followed it by making just 31.9 percent of their shots against A&M.
But LSU managed to enter victory lane Sunday because it grabbed a school-record 30 offensive rebounds in an SEC game, held A&M to 31.4 percent from the field and put together runs of 15-2 to open the second quarter and 16-5 to close the game.
“We could have done way better (on defense) and we put them at the free throw line too much (A&M hit 13 of 21 free throws) ” said LSU guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who scored a game-high 22 points including eight in the fourth quarter.
LSU’s Big 3 – Johnson, Morrow and Parkway High product Mikaylah Williams – spent the last 4:30 of the first half off the bench nursing fouls. Without them on the floor, LSU missed its last 7 of 8 field goal attempts with A&M’s 9-3 scoring burst cutting the Tigers’ lead to 30-25 at the half.
Even after A&M lost its leading scorer Aicha Coulibaly to an apparent serious leg injury with 1:51 left in the first half when she landed awkwardly on her right knee, the Aggies (10-9, 3-4 SEC) did not fold.
Every time it appeared when LSU was on the verge of blowing the game open, Texas A&M reeled the Tigers back in.
A&M reserve guard Taliyah Parker, who scored a team-high 13 points, hit two of the Aggies’ three fourth-quarter 3-pointers. The other belonged to Sole Williams, whose trey cut LSU’s lead to 48-46 with 6:45 left.
At that point, the Tigers were 1 of 16 on 3-pointers and reserve guard Kailyn Gilbert was scoreless, going 0-8 from the field
But Gilbert finally hit a pair of deep corner 3s sandwiching two Johnson drives in a 2:26 span that sent the Tigers to a double-figure victory margin.
Morrow had her 18-game double-double streak narrowly snapped, finishing with 19 points and 9 rebounds. Williams’ 14-game double-figure scoring skein ended as she had 8 points on 3 of 8 shooting and 6 rebounds.
“When it’s tough for you on the offensive end, rebounding and defense helps you win ball games,” Mulkey said. “I’ve preached that since I’ve been here, but that was a good example today.”
Sunday’s game was the first of a three-game homestand. The Tigers host SEC newcomer and No. 15 Oklahoma (16-4, 4-3 SEC) Thursday at 6 p.m. followed by a home game next Sunday at 1 p.m. vs. Mississippi State (16-5, 3-4 SEC)
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
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