LSU Gymnastics dominates No. 9 Alabama in 198.325-197.325 win

The LSU Tigers Gymnastics squad is coming off just their second loss of the season on the road to Florida, but looked to bounce back at home against No. 9 Alabama.

Despite the loss to Florida, LSU remained at the No. 2 spot in this weeks rankings, and in their final SEC meet of the season, the Tigers could clench the regular season SEC title and the No. 1 seed in the SEC Championships with a win and a Florida loss to No. 6 Kentucky on Sunday.

The Tigers did their part, knocking off Alabama by a score of 198.325-197.325, but they'll have to wait a couple days to see the results of Sunday's Florida vs Kentucky meet.

It was another electric night in the PMAC, and if you weren't able to make it out, don't worry, because we have a quick recap of Friday's action for you.

As always, LSU began their home meet on vault. KJ Johnson continued to set the tone on the event, leading off with a 9.875, her highest score in a month. Aleah Finnegan has finally began to hit her stride in recent meets, and she followed Johnson with a 9.875 of her own.

Freshman Amari Drayton went third on vault for the Tigers. The freshman has posted a 9.9+ in three of her last four vault routines, but she couldn't stick the landing tonight and received her lowest score of the season with a 9.725.

Chase Brock went fourth on vault. She's performed just one time this season, scoring a 9.500 on vault in their third meet against Kentucky, but she made the most of her opportunity, scoring the Tigers third 9.875 of the night.

Per usual, Kiya Johnson went fifth on vault for the Tigers, ascoring the Tigers fourth 9.875 on vault. I don't know how, but four of the first five Tigers scored a 9.875.

Haleigh Bryant anchored on vault, as she does every meet, and finally, the Tigers were able to break into the 9.9's with a 9.950 from Bryant.

On the other side of the floor, Alabama scored a 49.200 on bars after they were unable to score in the 9.9's on any of their routines.

After vault, the Tigers moved to the uneven bars for their second event of the night. Alexis Jeffrey continued to lead off on bars. She's been red hot, scoring a 9.850+ in each of her last five routines, and she kept that streak alive with a 9.875.

Ashley Cowan went second on bars for the Tigers. She's had an up-and-down season; she's only scored above a 9.900 twice, but has also scored below a 9.800 three times. However, she had a very good routine and scored a season-high 9.925.

Kiya Johnson has been in a bit of a slump on bars recently, scoring below a 9.900 in each of her last three events, but she finally put together a full bar routine and scored a 9.900.

The freshman Konnor McClain has also been in a bit of a slump on bars, scoring a 9.900+ in just one of her last five routines, but on Friday, she managed to break through, scoring a 9.900 in the four hole.

The Tigers just kept on rolling on bars as Tori Tatum and Haleigh Bryant scored a 9.950 and 9.975 respectively on bars to round out the second rotation. The Tigers team score of 49.650 tied their season-high on the event as they continued to build their lead over the Tide.

After the break, the Tigers moved to beam for their third event of the night. Sierra Ballard continues to lead off on beam, and she's done a really good job of late, averaging a 9.850 over the last four meets. On Friday, she nearly fell on her landing, but still scored a 9.825.

Alexis Jeffrey went second on beam. She's had her struggles on beam this season, scoring a 9.775 in three of her five routines this season, but she was coming off a 9.925 her last time out there. Despite some of her struggles this year, Jeffrey scored a 9.900 in the two hole. She's now put together two really good beam routines in a row as she looks to become a constant in the lineup.

Konnor McClain has probably been the best beam gymnast in the nation recently, averaging a 9.965 on beam in her last five meets, which would rank No. 1 in the country this season with the next closest averaging 9.943. But on Friday, McClain scored her lowest score since January 19th, scoring a 9.875.

Kiya Johnson went fourth on beam for the Tigers. She's coming off a season-low 9.825 on beam, and even though she beat that score, she still wasn't the Kiya we're used to seeing as she scored a 9.875. Haleigh Bryant followed Johnson, and despite a small slip up in one of her passes, Bryant earned a 9.925.

As always, Aleah Finnegan anchored on beam. She's gone back-and-forth between the 9.9's and 9.8's in recent meets, and after a small mistake on her second pass, Finnegan earned a 9.875.

Finally, the Tigers capped off the night on their best event, the floor. Heading into the final rotation, the Tigers held a 0.725 lead over the Tide. A decent sized lead, but not enough to let up and lose focus.

Konnor McClain led off on floor for the second straight week. She earned a 9.900 in that spot last week, but she topped that on Friday with a 9.925.

The other freshman, Amari Drayton, went second on floor. She's scored a 9.900+ in three of her last four floor routines, and continued to dominate on the event, scoring another 9.925 in the two hole.

KJ Johnson has been one of the best floor gymnasts in the world over the last three weeks as she's increased her score from 9.900 to a 9.925 to a 9.950 week-by-week, and she continued to build on that trend with a 9.975 in the three hole.

Okay, I know I just said that Johnson has been one of the best floor gymnasts recently, but that title might actually go to Aleah Finnegan. She's scored perfect 10's in each of her last two floor routines, and while she didn't quite hit that mark tonight, she still earned a 9.950.

Haleigh Bryant continues to hold down the five spot on floor for the Tigers. She's another LSU gymnast who's been on fire recently, scoring a 9.925 or higher in each of her last five floor routines, but on Friday, she earned her second perfect 10 of the season on floor to lock up the win for the Tigers.

Kiya Johnson was set to anchor the event, but since the Tigers had the meet wrapped up, Jay Clark let Sierra Ballard take the final routine. She scored a 9.900 in relief, matching her season high from the Tigers first meet of the season.

The Tigers once again tied their highest floor score of the season with a 49.775. This is the third time the Tigers have scored a 49.775 on floor, and nobody else, not even Oklahoma, has scored above a 49.750 on the event.