BATON ROUGE, La. | Alaina Rice and Jasmine Ballew each poured in 11 points, but it wasn't enough as the Florida A&M University women's basketball team dropped a 73-45 decision to LSU on Saturday afternoon at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
 
Florida A&M (2-9) trailed 15-6 after one period and 34-20 at the half, before LSU (10-2) outscored the Lady Rattlers in the second half, 39-25, to pick up the 73-45 win
 
Rice finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three steals and one assist, while Ballew added 11 points and one steal. 
 
Ayana Mitchell registered a game-high 20 points, on 8-of-9 shooting, along with seven rebounds, four steals and a pair of blocked shots to pace LSU. Awa Trasi came off the bench to provide 16 points, five boards and one steal.
 
How It Happened
LSU jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but an Alaina Rice 3-pointer trimmed the margin to 4-3 with just under eight minutes left in the opening period.
 
However, the Tigers quickly pushed the advantage to 10 points, 13-3, after a Jailin Cherry fastbreak bucket with 4:55 remaining, but the Lady Rattlers closed the gap to 15-6 by the end of the period as Jasmine Ballew sank a jump shot right before the end of the quarter.
 
Florida A&M continued to chip away at the deficit and trimmed the margin to 15-11 after a Royster bucket, but LSU answered with a 9-0 run, capped by an Awa Trasi free throw with 4:54 left in the half.
 
The Tigers extended the lead to 34-17 after a Mercedes Brooks 3-pointer with 38 seconds remaining, but a Corey Staples trey at the other end of the court cut the deficit to 34-20 at the half.
 
FAMU got a bucket by Regan Anderson with 8:23 remaining in the third to cut the gap to 37-24, but again LSU answered and used an 11-3 run over the next four minutes to push the margin to 48-27 with 4:39 left.
 
The Lady Rattlers cut the margin to 51-33 before the end of the quarter and never got any closer than 16 points (51-35) during the final nine minutes.
 
Inside the Numbers
> Florida A&M shot 31.6 percent (18-of-57) from the floor and 58.3 percent (7-of-12) from the charity stripe
> LSU was 28-of-57 (49.1 percent) from the field and 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from the foul line
> FAMU registered 32 rebounds, including 19 on the defensive glass
> LSU pulled down 42 rebounds, with 27 coming on the defensive end
> The Lady Rattlers finished with 28 points in the paint, 23 bench points, 10 points off 19 LSU turnovers, seven second-chance points and three fastbreak points
> The Tigers recorded 38 points in the paint, 31 bench points, 27 points off 23 FAMU turnovers, 19 second-chance points and 18 fastbreak points
 
Up Next
Florida A&M wrapped up its non-conference slate on Saturday at LSU and will now turn its attention to Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) play. The Lady Rattlers open their conference slate on Saturday, Jan. 4 at North Carolina Central. Tip-off against the Lady Eagles is set for 2 p.m.
 
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