The Georgia Lady Bulldog basketball team shot just 35 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers in 60-52 loss to the LSU Tigers Thursday night at Stegeman Coliseum.
Georgia falls to 13-3 overall and 5-3 in SEC play.
Jenna Staiti led the team in scoring with 19 points – nine of those being in the fourth quarter – and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior guard Que Morrison added 11 points.
“LSU is a great team. I mean, they always play tough, and they are a team that gets better every game they play,” said head coach Joni Taylor. “So, we knew we would have our hands full. It’s a game that you circle when you find out you’re playing them because they’re tough to play, and Nikki does a tremendous job with them. They want to slow the ball down and dictate pace, and they do what they did well. So, the credit goes to them. I think if you look at key stats, it’s offensive rebounds. They got their hands on offensive rebounds, and the one thing you’re not going to see is loose balls. They got their hands on a lot of loose balls, back tips, and things like that. When you’re playing a team that wants to limit possessions, we’ve got to value the basketball and little bit more than we did.”
The Lady Bulldogs opened the game slow as the Tigers jumped up to an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter. LSU led by as many as nine points in the opening stanza and shot 44 percent from the field compared to Georgia’s 20 percent. Morrison nailed a 3-pointer with 23 seconds left in the quarter to cut into LSU’s lead, 16-11.
Georgia settled into their offense in the second quarter, going on a 6-0 run to begin the period. Sarah Ashlee Barker made a 3-point jumper to tie the game at 23-all. Jordan Isaacs then found Mikayla Coombs for a layup to give Georgia their first lead of the game at 27-25 with 2:15 left to go until halftime.
LSU’s Awa Trasi knocked down a jumper to take a 32-31 over Georgia halfway through the third quarter. The Lady Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run and held the Tigers scoreless for over five minutes as Georgia held on to a six-point lead going into the final quarter. Morrison scored six of Georgia’s 14 points in the third quarter.
The Tigers clamped down in the fourth quarter and shot 8-of-12 from the field on 67 percent shooting. Georgia closed to 55-50 on a contested jumper by Staiti with 1:19 left in the game, but LSU converted at the free-throw line in the final minute to build back the lead.
LSU outscored the Lady Bulldogs 25-11 in the fourth quarter.
Next up, the Lady Bulldogs travel to College Station, Texas to take on the No. 8 Texas A&M on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET.