Short-handed Arkansas falls at LSU

BATON ROUGE – Sophomore Kristin Moore and junior April Seggebruch led five Lady Razorbacks in double figures with 13 points each, but the University of Arkansas could not muster consistent offense in a 92-65 loss to the 16th-ranked LSU Lady Tigers in Southeastern Conference women’s basketball at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Arkansas, 14-8, dropped to 3-6 in league play while LSU moved to 19-4 overall and 7-2 in the SEC. The final score wasn’t indicative of the effort as Arkansas played with a short roster due to injuries which became even shorter due to foul trouble for Moore and the SEC’s leading scorer, Shameka Christon. "The score says 27, but it was seven with six minutes left to go," UA head coach Susie Gardner said. "I was proud of the way we cut it to seven, but it was a tough way to end the game." LSU pounced on the Lady’Backs after halftime with a 10-0 run as Arkansas could not score a field goal until the 14:53 mark. Christon’s fourth foul early on in the period sent the 6-1 senior back to the bench. Moore, Rochelle Vaughn and Seggebruch took turns scoring in bunches to keep Arkansas in the ballgame, but the Lady’Backs were doing their best to improvise with sophomore center Ruby Vaden back in Fayetteville. The team’s second leading scorer and leading rebounder stayed behind to concentrate on therapy on her injured right foot. Combined with Moore and Christon carrying four fouls, Gardner was forced into a four-guard lineup. "We had a strange lineup on the floor, running an offense we put in during a time out," Gardner said. "We haven’t had a chance to practice that, but what I was most proud of was the fight from the ones we had out there." A jumper from Moore and a driving layup from Adrienne Bush cut the Lady Tiger lead to nine, 61-54, with 6:41 to play. The Lady’Backs looked as if they might continue the rally, but a 13-0 burst driven by Doneeka Hodges and Seimone Augustus ended Arkansas’ comeback. "We kept fighting, but they had more runs than we did, and their runs lasted longer than ours," Vaughn said. Arkansas saw only 12 minutes from its leading scorer Christon in the first half, but managed to only trail by four, 36-32, at halftime. "I made some bad fouls, and Coach was telling me not play like I was in foul trouble," Christon said. "But I was trying hard not to foul out, even though I ended up doing it." Although Christon finished with only 10 points, Arkansas saw career highs from Seggebruch and Bush, who scored 10 points off the bench. Vaughn rounded out Arkansas’ double-digit scoring with 12. The Lady’Backs exchanged points with LSU through the opening minutes, taking the lead on a three-pointer from Kristin Peoples, 11-10. The teams exchanged the lead eight times over the next seven minutes with a Moore jumper giving Arkansas its last lead, 20-19, at 7:49. LSU responded with a 10-2 run behind Augustus to take momentary control of the game. It took almost five minutes for the Lady’Backs to regain their offense, but back-to-back three-pointers from Vaughn and Seggebruch brought Arkansas back within one, 29-28, near the close of the half. Hodges led all scorers with 22 for LSU, followed by Augustus with 20. Tameka Johnson had 14 points and 15 assists. The Lady Tigers put their entire starting five in double digits as Wendlyn Jones had 13 with nine rebounds and Hanna Biernacka 12. Arkansas continues on the road this weekend, traveling to Tuscaloosa, Ala., for a Sunday afternoon game with the Crimson Tide. Tipoff at Coleman Coliseum is 2 p.m. and the game will be live on Fox Sports Net.