BATON ROUGE — In front of a sold-out Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Sunday, the LSU women’s basketball team overcame a scrappy Middle Tennessee team to pull out a 83-56 victory.
It is the second straight season that Kim Mulkey’s team has advanced to the second weekend of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After missing their first two shots, LSU got on the scoreboard first with an Aneesah Morrow layup but Middle Tennessee answered with a Savannah Wheeler jumper. Morrow then came right back down and drained a pull-up jumper but Wheeler answered with a layup.
The Blue Raiders took the lead on a three-pointer by Ta’Mia Scott. The Tigers answered with a layup by Angel Reese, another by Flau’jae Johnson, and a jumper by Mikaylah Williams.
A key factor in the first was how LSU held Middle Tennessee without a field goal for 4:53. At the end of the first, the Tigers held a 20-15 lead.
LSU pushed its lead to nine points to start the second, but Middle Tennessee went on an 11-2 run to reclaim the lead. With 3:20 left in the second, the Raiders held a 29-26 lead.
Middle Tennessee pushed its lead up to 36-30 with under a minute to go as LSU struggled to get the ball to fall through the bucket. The Tigers got a boost before the break as Williams drained a jumper but missed the free throw attempt.
At halftime, the Tigers trailed 36-32.
Middle Tennessee came out of the break and made a pair of jumpers which pushed their lead to 41-32. LSU’s Reese would make a layup and that sparked the Tigers to a 14-2 run to retake the lead 46-43.
LSU remained in control the rest of the third and led 59-49 heading to the fourth quarter. The Tigers then put the game out of reach as they started the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run and the Blue Raiders had their second player foul out of the game.
BIG NUMBER: 16
With Sunday’s victory, the LSU women advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Women’s Tournament for the second straight season and the 16th time in program history. The Tigers’ defense also frustrated the Blue Raiders holding them to 35 percent shooting from the field but more importantly, forcing 16 turnovers in the contest.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: FLAU’JAE JOHNSON
In a game in which four Tigers scored in double figures, Johnson was the one who made the most sensational plays and gave her team a spark. Johnson led LSU with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting, went 8-of-10 from the free-throw line, four rebounds, and had two blocks.
UP NEXT: LSU (30-5) will play the winner of Creighton-UCLA in the Sweet 16 in Albany next weekend. Day and time TBD.