Auburn ties highest score in program history in loss at LSU

No. 6 Auburn fell to No. 8 LSU with a final score of 197.975 to 197.750 on Saturday, Feb. 5, in Baton Rouge. Even though the Tigers took a loss, this score marks the highest score of the season for Auburn and tied the highest score ever in program history. 

“Really proud of the group tonight. It’s a really tough environment here,” said head coach Jeff Graba. “You know, we really don’t get to practice on the away equipment, I feel like the girls did a great job adjusting in a short period of time. It’s one of the two reasons the home team has such an advantage in our sport, but it also makes the road team really tough if they can handle it.”

Even though Auburn did not pull off the win, Suni Lee took home the all-around title with an individual score of 39.825, earning a 10.0 on bars, a 9.900 on vault, a 9.950 on floor and a 9.975 to end the meet on beam. Her score also marks the highest all-around score in program history. 

“When I went out there, I felt like I got better today,” Lee said. “Like, that’s just my mentality, to get better today, not necessarily to score a 10, but I mean, a perfect 10 is a perfect 10.”

Auburn started the meet off on bars, where Lee earned her first collegiate perfect 10 to lead the Tigers to a rotation score of 49.350. LSU put up a huge vault rotation of 49.375, where sophomore Haleigh Bryant also posted a perfect 10. 

“It means a lot. I always watch college gymnastics, so to actually be competing in college and then, of course, getting a 10, and then Jeff (Graba) coming up to me and told me that it was the first 10 in over 30 years, so it just feels so surreal and amazing and I’m honestly so proud of myself and proud of the whole team,” Lee said. 

Auburn next went to the vault, scoring a season-best 49.475.  Derrian Gobourne anchored the rotation with a clutch 9.950. LSU stayed toe-to-toe with Auburn, earning a 49.375 to end the first half of the meet trailing Auburn by 0.075. Auburn had four gymnasts earn a 9.900 or better on vault during this rotation.

The orange and blue Tigers performed on the floor next, where they did encounter some technical difficulties with their music. However, Auburn managed to score a 49.375 for the rotation, even with two gymnasts stepping out of bounds during their routines. 

“Yeah, we handled it really well,” Graba said regarding the floor music mishap. “I believe it’s a cable problem that they had here and they couldn’t fix it, but you’ve got to get through that and there’s worse things in life than having a music problem.”

The LSU Tigers were cool and steady on the beam, with three gymnasts of their own earning scores of 9.900 or better. This rotation for LSU made up the difference in scores, with the two teams tied going into the final rotation.  

Even though Auburn put up its best rotation score of the night with a 49.550 on beam, LSU proved to be too much on the floor, earning a 49.775 with Kiya Johnson ending the meet with another perfect 10 for LSU and the lowest-counting score being a 9.925. 

“My definition of a win this week is do we get better, do we get stronger for the end, and I believe top to bottom this team got better," Graba said. "That’s one of the things you gotta weather the storm, you gotta get through it and you gotta keep performing.”

While Lee did win the all-around competition this meet, another freshman in Sophia Groth also posted some huge numbers to help contribute to Auburn’s climbing score. Groth scored a 9.950 on beam as well as a 9.900 on both vault and floor. 

“I think we did excellent,” Groth said. “Our theme for this week was to level up, and in the past couple of weeks we’ve left a lot out on the table and I think everyone did a little bit better and together it showed.”

Auburn will next face No. 11 Missouri at Auburn Arena on Friday, Feb. 11. The meet is scheduled to start at 8 p.m. CST and will be streamed on SEC Network.