The South Carolina women's basketball team made a trip to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers and did OK during the first 5 minutes of the game, before a flurry of mistakes (missed shots, fouls and turnovers) suddenly found them trailing 8-24 with 11:38 to go in the first half.

The Gamecocks fought back, but never got any closer than 9 points in the rest of the first halr. Mostly, they ended up trading baskets with the Tigers, leaving the score at halftime LSU 39, South Carolina 26.

In the second half, the Gamecocks came out determined to make a game of it and for a time, it worked. The Carolina team climbed to within 8 points of LSU and held that margin for a few minutes (until 8:53 left in the game) but were unable to sustain that momentum and fell into the same pattern as the first half, trading baskets for the rest of the game.

The Gamecocks' futility showed in the box score. The Tigers outrebounded them 32-25, helped by serious foul trouble for sophomore forward Charenee Stephens, who is counted on to help out in the paint. Freshman center Kelsey Bone led the team in scoring with 16 points and in rebounding with 4--well below her league-leading average. Sophomore guard LaKeisha Sutton was second with 14 points, while junior guard Valerie Nainima had a sub-par shooting day with 6 points. As a team, the Gamecocks shot a usually respectable 40% for the game--but allowed LSU to shoot a much better 46% from the floor. Both teams were horrible from 3-point range, so no advantage there; the Gamecocks, though, were also terrible at the free throw line. USC made only 44% of their free throws (8-18) while LSU hit 78% of their chances, of which there were many more: 22-28.

It was a tough lesson for the young South Carolina team, which travels to Gainesville, Florida on Sunday to play a slightly less formidable Florida Gators team. That game is scheduled to tip off at 2 pm and is carried on the Sunshine Network, for those of you who are resourceful enough to locate that network.