Jan. 13, 2012
BATON ROUGE, La. - Auburn gymnastics fell to LSU 195.025-193.800 on Friday night at the Maravich Assembly Center in SEC action.
"The young people are still showing their nerves," head coach Jeff Graba said. "Some of them did better tonight, there were some bright spots. We are competing tight at the end. It looked to me like we were scared on beam and you cannot compete scared. Lots of rookie mistakes. This was their first SEC dual meet and they didn't handle it real well."
Auburn (2-3) trailed after the first rotation on bars, but stormed back with a 49.000 on vault to take a lead going into the third rotation. Senior Kylie Shields set a career high with a 9.875 on vault and Toi Garcia posted the second-highest vault score of the night with a season-best 9.900.
LSU's Rheagan Courville led the vault scoring with a 9.925.
Auburn went to floor third and despite strong routines by Brittany Webster (9.700) and Garcia (9.700), lost more points and trailed by fourth-tenths going into beam. The Tigers were then forced to count a pair of falls on balance beam and scored 48.125 on the event.
Beam did feature another solid routine from Shields as she capped her night with a season-high and career-best tying score of 9.900. The senior from Mahopac, N.Y. finished the night with an all-around score of 38.700. Auburn's other all-around competitor, Garcia, posted a 38.600.
Shields' 9.900 was the highest score on the beam on Friday night.
Needing some help from LSU in the final rotation, Auburn was denied as the home team Tigers posted a 48.950, highlighted by a pair of 9.900's from Courville and Lloimincia Hall. Hall took home the all-around title after scoring 39.200.
Allyson Sandusky and Shields paced the Tigers on the uneven bars in the opening rotation. The pair of seniors each scored an identical 9.800 and shared the event title.
The final score of 193.800 was the lowest for Auburn since the 2011 season opener at Iowa State when the Tigers scored 192.775. It is the lowest score against an SEC opponent since a 193.900 at LSU in 2010.
"It just seemed the environment was causing some of the girls to tighten up," Graba said. "Not having Petrina and not having Leah in there - those were upperclassmen that have been through the ringer. It showed tonight. We had to throw a couple in who had never competed in that environment. Unfortunately, they didn't handle it well. "
Auburn opens its home schedule on Friday night against Georgia. The meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT.
Results
Bars: Abbey Habicht - 9.675, Toi Garcia - 9.675, Megan Walker - 9.575, Petrina Yokay - 9.675, Allyson Sandusky - 9.800 (winner), Kylie Shields - 9.800 (winner) TOTAL - 48.625
Vault: Caryn Kadous - 9.475, Brittany Webster - 9.650, Allyson Sandusky - 9.750, Bri Guy - 9.825, Kylie Shields - 9.875 (career high), Toi Garcia - 9.900 TOTAL - 49.000
Floor: Brittany Webster - 9.700, Caryn Kadous - 9.375, Laura Lane - 9.650, Bri Guy - 9.625, Kylie Shields - 9.125, Toi Garcia - 9.700 TOTAL - 48.050
Beam: Allyson Sandusky - 9.850, Bri Guy - 9.250, Abbey Habicht - 9.800, Toi Garcia - 9.325, Megan Walker - 9.250, Kylie Shields - 9.900 (winner) TOTAL - 48.125
All-Around: Toi Garcia - 38.600, Kylie Shields - 38.700