The LSU Tigers women’s basketball team came into their regular season finale winners of seven straight. Kim Mulkey’s squad scored in waves and forced plenty of turnovers as the Tigers defeated the Kentucky Wildcats 77-56 to end the regular season with a 26-4 record and be 13-3 in SEC play.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Kentucky fouled Angel Reese and Hailey Van Lith in the first two possessions, then, Aneesah Morrow intercepted a Kentucky pass and went coast to coast for the early 6-0 lead as the Wildcats burned their first timeout less than 90 seconds in.
Amiya Jenkins and Eniya Russell made baskets for Kentucky but Morrow started a 12-0 run for the Tigers after the and-one layup by Russell. Morrow also hit a mid-range jumper and assisted Reese on a layup, then Flau’Jae Johnson got a steal and made a reverse layup traffic. The bucket put LSU up 16-5 with 2:25 left in the first quarter, making the Wildcats take another timeout. Reese’s layup after the pause in action completed the run.
Ajae Petty got into the paint and Maddie Scherr made both of her shots from the free throw line but Johnson’s shots from the charity stripe gave LSU the 20-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Two minutes into the second quarter, LSU went on a 10-2 run over the next minute and a half. The run started with layups by Van Lith and Reese, then a couple of turnovers by Kentucky led to Reese opening free for transition buckets. Van Lith hit a contested fadeaway shot to complete the run and put the Tigers up 31-14 with 6:28 left in the second quarter.
LSU only made one more shot in the remainder of the first half as Van Lith scored in the paint with 3:28 left while the Wildcats went on a 13-2 run. Saniah Tyler scored five straight while Petty and Jenkins made layups. Scherr’s three-pointer cut LSU’s lead down to six at the 38-second mark.
The Tigers went into halftime with a 33-27 lead.
LSU came out firing early in the third quarter. Morrow made another jumper, found a cutting Janae Kent, and scored in the paint less than 20 seconds later. Reese and Johnson each made layups to cap off the 17-6 run.
It was back-and-forth with layups by Van Lith, Reese, and Johnson while Kentucky’s Petty scored a couple of times in the paint. Reese scored right before the end of the third quarter as LSU headed into the fourth quarter up 60-45.
It was pretty even in the fourth quarter in terms of scoring. Russell scored twice for Kentucky while Morrow got back in the paint. Johnson hit a turnaround fadeaway then Saniah Tyler hit a three a few possessions later. Van Lith made her first three of the game right after and Reese scored from mid-range as the Tigers were up by 16 with less than five minutes to play in the game.
Following a timeout, Johnson scored a couple more times, and then Reese and Van Lith got a standing ovation from the home crowd as they checked out of the game for the final time.
LSU went on to defeat Kentucky 77-56 to improve to 26-4 and 13-3 in conference play.
BIG NUMBER: 23
The LSU defense forced 23 turnovers in Sunday’s win. The Tigers scored 26 points off those turnovers as Kim Mulkey’s team will prepare for the SEC tournament.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Angel Reese
Reese came to play on Senior Day and she finished the game with 22 points on 10-18 shooting. She also grabbed 14 rebounds and had three steals and five blocks as the Tigers finished the regular season with a 77-53 win over Kentucky.
UP NEXT: The LSU Tigers women’s basketball team will await their first opponent in the SEC Tournament after securing the two-seed. Time and date will be set soon and the action can be heard on Mustang 107.1.