It came down to the final rotation, as so many of these high-profile gymnastics competitions do, but in the end, No. 2 LSU scored a season-high 49.700 in the floor event while top-ranked Oklahoma was putting up a score of 49.250 on beam to hand the Sooners their first loss of the season on Friday night in the Louisiana bayou.
LSU posted a 198.050-197.675 victory, reaching the 198 level for the second time this season. The win also avenged an earlier loss to the Sooners in the Sprouts Farmer's Market Collegiate Quad early in January.
Oklahoma fell behind early in front of a highly energized crowd of over 13,000 in Baton Rouge with host LSU getting off to a strong start with a season-high score of 49.600 in vault while the Sooners posted a score of 49.425 on bars in their opening rotation.
The Sooners drew even with a matching score of 98.850 after the second rotation. Led by Faith Torrez's career high-tying 9.975 score, OU scored 49.425 on vault. Meanwhile, LSU scored 49.250 on bars in the Tigers' second event of the evening.
All tied going into the third rotation, Oklahoma took a slight lead with its second-highest score of the year in floor exercise (49.575). LSU's 49.500 on beam left the Tigers trailing the Sooners by .075 heading into the final rotation, where OU would be on beam while LSU finished on the floor.
Under pressure, LSU recorded a season-high score of 49.700 on the floor and the second-highest in women's gymnastics this season to overcome the Sooners' razor thin advantage and finishing score of 49.250 on beam to upset the nation's top-ranked team.
A trio of Sooners captured event titles, with Torrez taking top honors on vault and floor, Jordan Bowers shared the floor title with Torrez and three LSU gymnasts, all with scores of 9.95, and true freshman Lilly Pederson took home the bars title with a top score of 9.925.
The 13,386 fans who packed into the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Friday night was reported to be the third-largest in LSU program history.
Oklahoma will have to wait another week to record what would be its 900th win in program history. The Sooners will face another strong challenge in their next competition as No. 3 Florida comes to Norman for another top-five showdown on Friday.