Carter ties career high on floor, wins 23rd career title in team loss at LSU

BATON ROUGE, La. — Junior Sophia Carter won her 23rd career title on Friday evening, tying her career-high score on the floor with a 9.950 in the event.

Carter’s performance helped Arkansas finish strong against No. 5 LSU but ultimately fell to the Tigers in Baton Rouge, 197.125 – 195.725.

Rotation One | Bars

Three performances highlighted the Gymbacks’ first rotation, starting with a 9.850 from senior Hailey Garner, who executed her giant full-Geinger, immediate overshoot beautifully.

Sophomore Kennedy Hambrick’s jaeger to immediate overshoot earned her a 9.825 on the bars, followed by Sarah Shaffer’s double-layout dismount that anchored Arkansas with a team-high 9.875.

Rotation Two | Vault

Sophomore Amanda Elswick continued to shine on the vault, hitting her Yurchenko 1.5 for a 9.850. Shaffer’s Yurchenko layout half earned her a 9.825. Arkansas finished the second rotation with a 48.850 on the vault, as they trailed LSU midway through the meet, 98.625–97.275.

Rotation Three | Floor

Arkansas picked up the pace in the third rotation, finishing with a 49.200 as a team. It marks the 19th meet-in-a-row that the Gymbacks scored 49.000 or higher in the event.

Redshirt-freshman Bailey Lovett’s famous double-layout first pass scored her a 9.900, making it six out of nine times this season she scored a 9.900 or higher.

Carter anchored the Razorbacks with her fiery routine, complete with double-back roundoff and double-pike last pass that earned her the event title. The floor title is the 13th of her career and fourth this season.

Rotation Four | Beam

The Razorbacks posted their second-highest beam score of the season in the final rotation, a 49.250.

Lovett and Hambrick tied their career highs with a 9.900 and 9.925 respectively. Lovett shined with her front aerial, back layout and Hambrick nailed her back-handspring layout, switch leap series.

Next meet

Arkansas is on the road again, next Friday as they travel to Denton, Texas, for a quad meet hosted by Texas Women’s University.

The Gymbacks will see LSU once again at in Denton and joined by Centenary as well.

Information from Razorback Sports Communications is included in this story