LSU defeats Rice 70-60 in round one of NCAA Tournament

BATON ROUGE  — No. 3-seed LSU advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament with a 70-60 win over No. 14-seed Rice on Friday afternoon inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. 

LSU will advance to the second round and have a date with Middle Tennessee on Sunday inside the PMAC. The Blue Raiders upset Louisville earlier today with a 71-69 comeback win after being down by 11 at the half.  

Angel Reese earned her 13th-straight double-double after putting up 10 points and hauling in 19 rebounds. The Junior now has 24 total double-double performances this season. Reese’s rebound total is her highest since recording 20 against Auburn. 

In her NCAA tournament debut, Aneesah Morrow finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds to lead the Tigers in scoring on 6-11 from the field. Morrow was the only player to reach double digits in the first half with 10. 

Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams both scored 14. Williams was named SEC Freshman of the year earlier this month. Johnson earned the same honor a season ago. The duo combined for 4 of LSU’s 6 three-pointers. 

The Tigers started the afternoon on a 7-0 run, but after Rice scored six-straight to respond and move within one with five minutes to go in the first. Reese recorded 5 rebounds in the first 5 minutes of action. Following the media timeout, Van Lith scored the game’s first triple from the top of the key. Johnson broke a three minute scoring drought for both teams with a fast break finish to make it 12-6 before the end of the quarter. 

The Owls opened the second quarter with back-to-back threes to knot things up at 12. Morrow scored on consecutive possessions to regain LSU’s lead each time. Reese then went 2-2 from the foul line to score her first points of the game and move LSU ahead by four. The Tigers went on a 10-4 run and took an eight point lead into the media break. Rice held the Tigers without a field goal for the final three minutes as it moved within three before the half, 30-27. 

Both squads picked up where they left off trading buckets and staying physical on both ends. Rice outscored LSU 8-7 in the first three minutes to move the margin to 2. LSU looked to gain momentum after scoring three to extend its lead, but Rice connected on its sixth three of the day to move back within 2 before the media timeout, 40-38. Williams went 2-2 from the charity stripe to give LSU its biggest lead of the night and first by double figures.  LSU held its lead and entered the final quarter up 53-42. 

Destiny Jackson opened the fourth with a three and Klaczek followed with a free throw to score the first points of the quarter. LSU responded with four unanswered of its own as the defense forced two big blocks to pump up the home crowd. During the run Rice’s leading scorer, Fisher, fouled out with just under six minutes to go. A Jackson put-back moved the Owls within 9 just before the final media timeout. The Owls moved within six to force an LSU timeout with 1:43 to go, 62-56. The Tigers made all their free throws down the stretch to secure its first win of the tournament.

*LSU press release