BATON ROUGE – No. 7 LSU (23-1, 8-1 SEC) improved to 15-0 at home this season with a 81-67 victory over Mississippi State (16-7, 3-6 SEC) Sunday afternoon in the PMAC.
Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams continued to shoot the ball from beyond the arc with both of them sinking four threes against the Bulldogs. Williams led LSU with 22 points after scoring 37 Thursday against Oklahoma. Johnson scored 20 points with 5 rebounds and she tied a career-high with 4 blocks.
Johnson was tasked with guarding Mississippi State’s leading scorer, Jerkaila Jordan (16.9 ppg). Jordan was coming off a 40-point game Monday against Missouri, but the LSU guard held Jordan to 9 points, her season-low in SEC play.
“I didn’t care if I scored in this game as long as I did what I did on defense, and I tied my career high of four blocks, so… Big Four,” Johnson said.
“Well, listening to a scouting report and what to take away on straight line drives, and then, Flau’jae has length,” Coach Kim Mulkey said of Johnson’s defense against Jordan. “And then when you add the length, when she gets her hands up, doesn’t come down and foul, you’re going to have to make a shot against a taller player.”
Aneesah Morrow continued to pace the nation in rebounding and double-doubles. She had 18 points with 20 rebounds to record her 21st double-double of the season and 95th of her career. She is now tied with LSU’s Sylvia Fowles for the seventh most rebounds (1,570) in NCAA DI history.
The Tigers also got a good contribution from Jersey Wolfenbarger who had 12 points and 7 rebounds with 2 steals and 2 blocks.
Mississippi State was led by Eniya Russell, who finished with 13 points and 4 assists. Medina Okot secured 10 rebounds to lead the Bulldogs.
LSU goes on the road to face Missouri on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT.
The Tigers opened up the game with solid play on both ends, jumping out to an early 9-0 advantage with five points by Williams, forcing the Bulldogs to take an early timeout. Williams and Johnson both hit a pair of triples in the opening quarter, continuing to shoot it well after they both scored over 25 points Thursday night. The first quarter ended in favor of the Tigers, 24-12.
Williams added another two triples in the second quarter as she finished with 16 points to lead all scorers in the first half. LSU built a 18-point lead in the second quarter, but the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run to tighten the game. LSU took a 41-35 lead into the half.
Mississippi State’s leading scorer Jerkaila Jordan was held scoreless in the first half, thanks in large part to Johnson’s defense with three blocks against Jordan through the first two quarters.
The Tigers wasted no time to get the second half started as Morrow converted an and-one at the rim to open the scoring. LSU was able to push their advantage to 14 points at the 4:37 media timeout through back-to-back buckets from Morrow and Jersey Wolfenbarger. The quarter ended with the Tigers in front, 65-54.
The fourth quarter saw LSU put the finishing touches on their win, as they held the Bulldogs to just 23.5% shooting in the final quarter. The game ended with a score of 81-67 as the Tigers took home the victory.
**LSU press release
