BATON ROUGE – No. 7 LSU (4-0) trailed Murray State (1-2) by nine points at halftime, but the Tigers held the Racers to 14 second half points and grinded out a 74-60 win Friday night in the PMAC.
The Tigers outscored the Racers 16-8 in the third to bring the deficit to one, In the final quarter, LSU completed the comeback and outscored MSU, 21-6. Flau’Jae Johnson, who finished the game with 25 points, scored 10 crucial points in the fourth quarter to help LSU take and extend the lead.
“I just knew it was the fourth quarter and we can’t lose,” Johnson said. “I had to do whatever I could. Coach Bob (Starkey) told me that we needed my energy and I needed to do what I did.”
Johnson also tacked on 7 rebounds and 5 assists. Aneesah Morrow earned her third double-double of the season with a 10 point, 14 rebound performance, and Mikaylah Williams logged 15 points and 8 rebounds on the night.
“I think Morrow was a warrior for us tonight,” Coach Mulkey said. “She didn’t shoot it particularly well but she did everything else. She was hedging screens and finding other ways to contribute to us winning. There’s a lot of ways to win a ball game.”
Shayeann Day-Wilson was production running the offense. She scored 9 points, including a key fourth-quarter triple, and had a game-high 8 assists with just one turnover
The Tigers forced 19 turnovers with 12 steals on the defensive end, and held Murray State to 20-58 shooting on the night.
Ava Learn led the Racers with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Haven Ford had 10 points and a team-high 5 assists. MSU outscored LSU 26-20 in the paint, a stat that was key in the Racers building their lead in the second quarter.
Williams started the night 3-3, making two three pointers with an and-1 layup, scoring the first 9 points for the Tigers to give them an early edge. Murray State found success on the offensive end to start the first quarter, as the Racers tied the game 9-9 with a three pointer. LSU made multiple defensive stops in the first period, forcing Murray State turnovers and capitalizing with points. Kailyn Gilbert found her first score of the night on an and-1 layup where she fought through contact for the tough bucket. After the Tigers forced a shot clock violation on the Racers, Jada Richard found her spot on the wing and drained a triple to extend the LSU lead to 10. After Williams made an impressive stop on defense, Sa’Myah Smith found Johnson for the easy layup in transition. After one quarter, LSU led Murray State 25-14.
Murray State began the second quarter of play on a 10-0 run, but a Johnson corner three limited the damage for the Tigers. The Racers continued to stifle the LSU offense in the second quarter, and capitalized with points on the offensive end. LSU went cold in the second quarter and was just 1-11 from the field going into the media timeout as MSU held a 33-28 lead. Johnson scored on back-to-back possessions for LSU, and Williams found a mid-range jumper to make it three straight scores for the Tigers. At the half, LSU trailed MSU 37-46, Johnson and Williams both led the Tigers with 13 points in the half.
LSU struggled to get the ball into the post in the second quarter and the offense struggled to run efficiently. Johnson and Williams combined for 11 of the 12 points LSU scored in the quarter. Learn had 16 in the second quarter for MSU, using her dribble penetration to get to the rim. The Racers led the point in the paint battle 20-5 at halftime.
Smith earned the first bucket of the second half on a floater from the low post. Morrow then scored her first field goal of the night with a layup in the paint. After two possessions, LSU cut MSU’s lead to 5 and forced a timeout. The Tigers turned defense into offense with a Smith steal that led to a Johnson layup. After some empty possessions, Gilbert found Morrow in the paint for a score to get LSU back on track. The LSU offense found itself in yet another scoring drought in the second half, but a Gilbert three pointer put the Tigers within striking distance of the lead, cutting the MSU lead to 1. After three quarters, MSU led 54-53. In the third, LSU shot 7-12 from the field with 16 points and made one three pointer on four attempts.
LSU regained the lead in the fourth quarter after Johnson found Morrow in the paint for a layup. Johnson then pushed the ball down the floor and cashed a mid-range jumper to increase LSU’s lead to 3. After the timeout, Smith caused a turnover on the defensive end, which led to a Johnson mid-range. LSU kept feeding the hot hand, as Johnson drained yet another mid-range jumper to eclipse 20 points on the night. The Tigers turned up the defensive pressure in the 4th, holding Murray State to an 0-6 field goal stretch late in the quarter. Morrow scored a layup with one minute remaining to earn her third double-double of the season. The Tigers dribbled the ball out with the clock expiring to reach the final score of 74-60.
