LSU claims no worse than a 2nd place finish in SEC with its win over 'Bama
When LSU’s Senior Night began teetering on the edge Thursday night, graduate student Khayla Pointer made sure no one was going to ruin the final regular season home game of her storied Tigers’ basketball career.
After Alabama’s third-quarter 3-pointer hailstorm flipped a 14-point LSU lead into a one-possession game twice, Pointer’s 23 points, 9 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals spurred the eighth-ranked Tigers to a 58-50 SEC win before a Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 7,421.
Pointer's big game came on the heels of the worst shooting game of her career, making just 1 of 17 shots in Sunday's 66-61 win over Florida.
"I'm hard on myself, how I get through stuff is I make jokes about myself," Pointer said. "It was a new game for me. Even though I can joke about the last game, I know I can lock in the next game and have a completely different game."
LSU head coach Kim Mulkey had total faith in Pointer as the Tigers battled to hold off the Crimson Tide.
“I was preaching to get the ball in Khayla’s hands and let her make decisions on the floor,” Mulkey said. “She did and she made wonderful decisions.”
The win assured LSU, now 24-4 overall and 12-3 in the SEC, that it can finish no worse than a second-place tie and a third seed in next week’s SEC tourney in Nashville behind Tennessee if it loses to the Vols (22-6, 11-4) in Sunday’s regular season road finale.
“Win or lose in Knoxville, we are in second place and nobody can take that away from us,” Mulkey said. “But we’d love to have it to ourselves.”
That could be a tall task because LSU will likely be without redshirt junior guard Alexis Morris, the Tigers’ second leading scorer averaging 16.5 points.
Morris, who averaged 23.5 points in her last four games, was helped off the floor Thursday with 8:33 left in the first quarter. She sustained a left knee injury when teammate Jalin Cherry fell into her legs after taking a charging foul.
Morris returned to the bench in street clothes in the second half. Mulkey said after the win she hoped Morris’ injury was just a strain or a hyperextension but would know more Friday after a thorough examination.
The Tigers were able to turn back the Tide without Morris, thanks to a 36-12 points in the paint domination. Twin post players Faustine Aifuwa (12 points, 5 rebounds) and Autumn Newby (9 points, 5 rebounds) scored most of their points inside and Pointer scored on four drives.
LSU led 29-17 at the half before Alabama exploded for 21 third-quarter points when six of its seven made field goals were 3-pointers.
Brittany Davis, who won SEC Player of the Week honors on Tuesday, led Alabama with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Megan Abrams, a former Lafayette (La.) Christian Academy standout, finished with 16.
"Credit LSU with their size and rotations," said Alabama head coach Kristy Curry, whose team dropped to 14-12 overall and 5-10 in the SEC. "I don't want to take anything away from them, but listen, we've got to be tougher.
"They're big. Obviously, they were doing a great job of limiting our touches and forcing us off the three. We missed a lot of shots in the paint, and listen guys, we're in the SEC, we've got to make layups."
Though LSU is just about assured of hosting the opening round of the NCAA tournament, Pointer and fellow graduate students Aifuwa, Cherry and Newby (who transferred from Vanderbilt) and senior Awa Trasi took an impromptu postgame victory lap much to the delight of Mulkey.
“Let those kids run around here,” Mulkey said. “Look at all the fans that stayed to touch them and thank them. It’s emotional, I’m telling you.”