BATON ROUGE, La. – The No. 9 Alabama gymnastics team fell to No. 1 LSU in front of a raucous Pete Maravich Assembly Center record crowd of 13,729 Friday night, 197.450-196.725. It was a season-best score for both teams.

Alabama closed with its best rotation of the night, going 49.350 on the balance beam behind a career-best 9.875 from sophomore Peyton Ernst in the leadoff spot and a 9.950 from senior Nickie Guerrero . Senior Kiana Winston also scored a 9.875 on the beam.

"We finished the meet strong on balance beam, which in this environment is really saying something," UA head coach Dana Duckworth said. "We had great team spirit throughout the night, even when we had adversity. I think we did a great job of not getting tentative following a mistake."

The Tide started off with a 49.150 on the uneven bars paced by a 9.85 leadoff by sophomore Wynter Childers , and matching 9.875s from Winston and senior Mackenzie Brannan in the final two spots. On the vault, junior Abby Armbrecht and sophomore Shea Mahoney both scored 9.825s to push the Tide to a 49.025.

Alabama scored a 49.200 on the floor exercise led by a season-best 9.925 from Winston and 9.875s from Armbrecht and Guerrero. It was a career-best mark for Armbrecht.

"Overall, there were a lot of great performances, but we are just starting to scratch the surface when it comes to our potential," Duckworth said.

Alabama returns home for back-to-back Fridays in Coleman Coliseum, taking on Missouri (Jan. 26) and Arkansas (Feb. 2). Both meets start at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for UA home meets are available through the Alabama Ticket Office (205.348.2262) located in the lobby of Coleman Coliseum and online at RollTide.com.