Marline Stephens doesn't like to make a big fuss about the pain in her sore left elbow or fret about the surgery she faces to remove bone chips once Georgia's gymnastics season is complete.
Mention the subject and the sophomore from Houston will simply shrug and nod her head, the smile never leaving her face.
"You don't ever worry about that when you're out on the floor," said Stephens, whose perfect 10 on floor highlighted the Gym Dogs' 197.45-196.675 victory Friday night over LSU.
"You just block it out of your mind," she added. "It hurts, but it's nothing that's going to keep me from competing, or trying to do my best."
Any doubters Stephens may have had were silenced after her brilliant performance on floor, the second perfect mark she has earned on the event during her career.
"I've had some other routines here in the past that I thought were pretty good but didn't get a 10," Stephens said. "I wasn't really expecting one this time. But I'm glad I got it."
The Gym Dogs (17-2, 5-1) were also happy to get the win.
Eleventh-ranked LSU (6-7) has been one of the country's hottest teams. With victories over second-ranked Alabama and fifth-ranked Utah, the Tigers came into Friday's action winners of four of their last five meets, including a 197.5 in last week's victory against Kentucky. That was the highest score in the program's history.
But Georgia has been riding a successful wave of its own.
The Gym Dogs have held the No. 1 spot in the GymInfo Top 25 poll for much of the year, and with the SEC championships in Birmingham, Ala., two weeks away (March 23), Georgia was anxious to close out the regular season with a little momentum before trying for its 12th league crown.
The Gym Dogs were successful in accomplishing exactly that.
Georgia scored a 49.275 or higher on all four events and did not have to count a fall the entire night, opening with a 49.325 on vault before tallying a 49.35 on bars, its second-highest total on that particular event this year. The Gym Dogs finished out the meet with a 49.275 on beam and a 49.5 on floor.
LSU's high score of the evening was a 49.425 on floor.
"There were three things we talked about in the lockerroom that we needed to accomplish (tonight)," Georgia head coach Suzanne Yoculan said. "Number one was the win, we felt it was important to come out and beat LSU. Second, was we wanted to have a good showing on every single event.
"Finally, we wanted to make sure the emotion of Senior Night wasn't a distraction because at times it is a distraction to those seniors in terms of what they're able to do in the competition."
Individually, Cassie Bair's star shone brightly before the fourth sellout crowd (9.951) at Stegeman Coliseum by tying a pair of career highs -- 9.875 on vault and a 9.85 on bars. The Evans native capped her evening with a 9.9 on beam, the sixth time in eight meets she has scored at least that high.
"I've been working really hard in the gym on vault and bars especially because this is pretty much the first year I've consistently been doing this," Bair said. "But I've been getting the numbers in and hitting. Hopefully, I'll score even higher next time."
Bair wasn't alone.
Sophomore Chelsa Byrd tallied a season-high 9.9 on bars, a total equaled by Talya Vexler posted on floor.
Two of Georgia's biggest routines did not even count toward its final score. Sierra Sapunar and Kinsey Rowe both competed in exhibition with Sapunar earning a 9.75. No big deal? To Yoculan it was.
Sapunar had not taken her turn on the event since last year when she scored a 9.95, while Rowe was competing for the first turn since injuring her left ankle during the team's fourth meet of the year at Alabama. Rowe did not take her dismount in order to protect the ankle, but hopes to be ready in time for the SECs.
