Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
BATON ROUGE, La. – In LSU women’s basketball’s first round matchup against Jacksonville, the No. 2 seed Tigers established scoring records and defeated the No. 15 Dolphins, 116-58, Friday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
With the victory, LSU improved to 28-5 on the season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional against the Texas Tech-Villanova winner on Sunday. Tip times for Sunday’s matchup will be announced following the conclusion of Friday’s games. With the loss, Jacksonville dropped to 24-9 on the season and its season came to a close.
Coach Kim Mulkey’s record in NCAA Tournament games at home improved to 25-2, while LSU’s home record in the NCAA Tournament moved to 26-4. Mulkey has led LSU to five straight seasons as a host site, which is the most in succession for the program. With Mulkey at the helm in national tournament games at home, LSU is 8-1.
Mulkey picked up her 150th win at LSU with the victory over Jacksonville becoming the fastest head coach in LSU history to 150 wins. Mulkey did so in 175 games coached. The legendary Sue Gunter accomplished the feat in 209 games.
On Sunday, when LSU returns to action, Tiffany Greene (pxp), Carolyn Peck (analyst) and Alyssa Lang (reporter) will call the action. Fans can also tune into the LSU Sports Radio Network with Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams on the call.
LSU had seven players with 10-plus points, tying an NCAA Tournament record for double-digit scorers in a game. It also tied an NCAA Tournament record with eight players scoring nine-plus points. The LSU players in double digits included senior Flau’jae Johnson (20), junior Mikaylah Williams (18), sophomore Jada Richard (17), freshman ZaKiyah Johnson (16), junior MiLaysia Fulwiley (13), sophomore Kate Koval (11) and freshman Grace Knox (11).
“The offense is not surprising,” Mulkey said. “We’ve seen that all year. I’ve said it so many times, I feel like I’m a recorder. We can score the ball. We just have to keep committing to things defensively when you play the great teams that are as good as you or better than you, and we’ve got to make sure that we force turnovers. We’ve got to make sure the defensive help is there.”
LSU jumped out to a quick start with an 8-0 run in the 1:19 of the ballgame. Williams contributed to the scoring with six straight points, forcing the Dolphins to call their first timeout. The Tigers piled on to their lead up until the first media timeout as LSU led Jacksonville, 22-7, with 4:56 left in the quarter. The away team responded, but the Tigers held the 34-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
LSU’s 34 points marked the most for the Tigers in a quarter during NCAA Tournament games since the quarter system went into effect in 2016. The program’s previous high came in the 2023 National Championship game versus Iowa when LSU scored 32 in the second quarter.
In the second quarter, LSU kept its foot on the gas pedal, driving up its lead to 31 after the media timeout. Down the stretch of the first half, Jacksonville cut its deficit to 22, however, the Tigers expanded on the lead again, holding the 64-36 lead going into the locker room.
Through the first half, Williams paced the Tigers with 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals. ZaKiyah and Flau’jae went into the break with double digit scoring, putting up 10 and 13, respectively. LSU’s 64 first half points is the second-most the Tigers have tallied this season. It is the sixth instance this season LSU has scored 60-plus in one half.
In the third quarter, LSU outscored Jacksonville, 20-10, by the quarter’s media timeout. The Tigers were able to build on it and eclipsed 100 points for the 15th time this season. LSU’s SEC record extended to the NCAA level, tying Long Beach State’s 15 games with 100-plus points in 1987. The Tigers’ 116 points signaled the most for LSU in an NCAA Tournament game.
LSU came away with the 58-point win to advance to the second round on Sunday.
**LSU PRESS RELEASE**
