No. 7 LSU faces ranked test against No. 20 NC State in Bahamas
NASSAU, Bahamas – No.7 LSU (7-0) completed a 12-point second half comeback against Washington on Monday and now the Tigers will face their first ranked test of the season at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday against No. 20 NC State in the Pink Flamingo Championship game.
The game will be streamed on FloCollege and fans can listen to Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams on the LSU Sports Radio Network.
LSU trailed Washington for nearly 35 minutes of action after falling behind 13 points in the first quarter. But the Tigers chipped away through the rest of the contest and Kaylin Gilbert scored on a broken play with one second remaining to let LSU escape with a 68-67 victory. LSU survived its worst shooting game of the season, hitting just 33-percent of its shots.
Flau’Jae Johnson and Aneesah Morrow both scored 19 points in the win. Morrow also had 13 rebounds to record her 80th career double-double. Sa’Myah Smith had 16 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end. Morrow and Smith combined for 17 of LSU’s 27 offensive rebounds, helping the Tigers outscore the Huskies 26-10 in second chance points.
“I’d love to tell you it was something I drew up to get us back in the game, but it wasn’t,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “This is a tournament where we are going to be challenged and we have to grow up. Me, as a coach, I’m sitting over there trying to figure it all out, I really am. I’m trying to figure out who I need to play. [Washington] has not played a zone in two years and they come out in the little 1-2-2 and it was effective. Outstanding coaching job from Washington, outstanding play from Washington, we were very fortunate to win the game, but along the way, we created some of that fortune. the decision to put Morrow on the ball with 1.6 to go was big because she got a deflection. I don’t know how we won that game because I want to tell you Washington played really well.”
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NC State faced Southern on Monday and the winless Jaguars hung around with the Wolfpack for three quarters. The game featured 12 lead changes and NC State held a thin 45-38 lead going into the final quarter before outscoring Southern 32-9 over the final 10 minutes.
The Wolfpack reached last year’s Final Four. Like LSU when it won the 2023 national championship, NC State was a three seed during their run to the Final Four. The Wolfpack have three starters back from last year’s team, including Aziaha James who leads the team with 18.3 ppg this season. NC State receives most of its production from its perimeter players.
NC State’s two losses have come in its only two games facing power four opponents on a neutral floor against South Carolina and at TCU.
