BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) – Aliyah Boston scored 11 of his 20 points in the second half and grabbed 14 rebounds to help South Carolina’s No. 4 secure a 69-65 victory over LSU on Sunday.
Destanni Henderson had 16 points and eight assists, while Zia Cooke had 11 points for South Carolina (12-1, 7-0 SEC), who won his 26th straight game against the conference competition.
Khayla Pointer scored 18 and Tiara Young 16 for Lady Tigers (6-7, 4-3), who defeated No. 8 Texas A&M earlier this month and looked set to stage their second loss against a top 10 team in two weeks. , when they took an advantage in the fourth period.
LSU gained a 45-43 lead in the fourth period after Faustine Aifuwa’s jumper beat the clock at the end of the third period, and Awa Trasi’s layup briefly increased the lead to 47-43 before South Caroina suddenly gained momentum with a 9-0 race.
The raise started with the Boston bucket and featured Henderson’s five points in a 3-point basket and free throws. LeLe Grissett’s quick attack tray crowned the race and made the 52-47 with 7:37 left.
LSU retreated to 56-55 after Young’s jump with 3:41 remaining, but consecutive breakups by Cooke and Grissett started a decisive 10-2 Gamecocks race that included more break-points for Cooke and Grissett.
The 1.80m Boston, who averaged 14.4 points, didn’t score in the second half until hitting two free throws with 4:22 left in the third quarter to give her 11 points, but produced as the Gamecocks needed her to go down the stretch.
The teams agreed to start 0 out of 10 on the field before Pointer’s layup tied the game in 2 almost three minutes in the first quarter.
The brave, physical and defensive first minutes foreshadowed a tight and competitive first half, during which both teams shot below 34% and neither led by more than five points.
Young hit four of his first five shots and scored 10 points in the first half, giving LSU a 14-13 lead with a jump early in the second quarter.
Boston scored nine in the first half, and his layup put the Gamecocks at 21-19 at the end of the second half.
But LSU equalized on the Trasi tray and regained the lead at 25-23, when Seay stole Cooke’s ball near the middle of the court and converted a quick attack tray with a second left before the break.
THE GREAT IMAGE
South Carolina: While the Gamecocks were in a close race and lost at the start of the final period against an LSU team that clearly did not fear them, they never seemed to falter long enough to let the game get away from them. Ultimately, his superior talent took over by controlling the final stages of the game to ensure his 11th consecutive victory in the series.
LSU: The physical presence of Aifuwa and 6-1 Trasi on the attack court prevented Boston from taking over the game earlier. The additional defense of LSU’s backcourt showed how Lady Tigers can remain competitive in any game with some of the best ranked teams in the country – even though they have hovered around 0.500 overall this season.
NEXT
South Carolina visits Mississippi State No. 19 on Thursday night.
LSU visits No. 22 Georgia on Thursday night.
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