Strong second half leads LSU past ULL, 83-53

BATON ROUGE — The game was tied at half, but No. 7 LSU used a strong second half performance to power past Louisiana-Lafayette, 83-53, Sunday in the PMAC.

The Tiger trio of Aneesah Morrow, Mikaylah Williams, and Angel Reese all scored in double-figures to help lead the second half scoring effort. The three combined for 65 of LSU’s 83 points on Sunday.  

Morrow earned her fifth double-double of the season and secured her eight-straight game scoring in double figures. The transfer scored 27 points and had 10 rebounds in what was another dominating performance. It was her third-highest scoring game as a Tiger after her outstanding performance in the Caymans with 28 against Niagara and 37 versus Virginia. 

Mikaylah Williams shined once again as she added 18 points on 6-13 from the field with 11 boards, the highest rebound total of her career. The Freshman earned her first career double-double as she led all scorers beyond the arch on 4-8 from deep. 

Angel Reese scored 20 points and hauled in 9 rebounds. Reese sparked the second half comeback as she scored 12 points in the third quarter to outscore the Cajuns alone. Her total marks the second time this season the Junior has reached 20 or more. 

 Aalyah Del Roasrio played valuable minutes in the first half and scored 7 points in the opening two quarters. Last-Tear Poa boosted the second half comeback as she provided 6 assists in the second half, 7 total. 

ULL was led by Brandi Williams and Tamera Johnson who scored 14 and 13, respectively. Brandi Williams was the only other player to connect on more than one three-pointer besides LSU’s Mikaylah Williams. The senior went 6-12 from the field and had five boards. Johnson was 5-9 and the only other Cajun to hit a three. 

The Tigers will be back in action on Tuesday night as they host McNeese at 7:00 p.m. inside the PMAC. LSU will be hosting a toy drive to prepare for Friday’s Christmas Clubhouse event. Participating fans are asked to donate new and unopened toys. 

After Louisiana-Lafayette started on an 8-2 run, Williams scored five straight to put LSU within one before the first media timeout. After the break Williams assisted Del Rosario down low to give LSU its first lead of the game, 9-8. Flau’Jae Johnson went 1-2 from the foul line to extend the Tiger’s run to 11-0 before the end of the quarter. The LSU defense held the Cajuns scoreless for the final five minutes of the opening quarter as the freshmen tandem of Del Rosario and Williams scored a combined 10 points in the opening frame.

The Cajuns went on a 9-3 run to open the second quarter and regain its lead 17-16. A made Reese free throw tied the game shortly before ULL’s Williams hit a corner three to go up 20-17 with just over six minutes remaining in the half.  At the media timeout LSU was just 1-6 from the field and scored four of its six points from the charity stripe. Morrow checked in and scored a quick jumper to break a 7:41 scoring drought. The junior followed a possession later with another bucket to tie things up at 28 before halftime. 

LSU scored 11 of its first half points from the foul line as it went 8-25 for 32-percent from the field in the first half. ULL shot 46-percent and only made one of its three attempts from the charity stripe. The Tigers were able to out-rebound the Cajuns 21-16 despite being outscored 14-10 inside the paint. 

After ULL scored the first points of the third Reese and Morrow combined for a 10-0 run to take a 38-30 lead four and a half minutes into the quarter. Williams nailed a three-pointer on the wing to give the Tigers their first double digit lead of the day and force a ULL timeout. Reese and Morrow scored 12 and 10, respectively, to lead LSU to a 19-point lead before the final quarter. The Tigers went 75-percent from the field and ULL to 3-14 and scoreless in the final three minutes. 

LSU held on to its lead through the opening minutes of the final quarter as it traded buckets with the Cajuns. LSU was able to contain the late shooting effort from ULL as Morrow scored 10 through eight minutes of action. Williams contributed two threes in the final quarter before the LSU reserves finished out the final two minutes. LSU held its 30-point lead as time expired to secure the win, 83-53.

*LSU press release

LSU Kim Mulkey quote

“The way we started was not very good. I don’t want to take anything away from what ULL was doing. A lot of the things they were doing to us was sound. They were using up the clock every time down the court and within their offense we had to guard them for a long period of time. The second thing that was disappointing for me was they were in a zone and we had all these turnovers. Turnovers are apart of the game but they were not good turnovers. [In the second half] We were more aggressive. We just played like we normally do and pounded the ball in there, got rebounds, and kept getting second and third chances. Everything we did in the second half was opposite of what we did in the first half and it starts with your energy, aggressiveness, and I thought they were more aggressive early. We didn’t respond in the first half with that kind of effort, but we did a better job in the second half.”