No. 3 Lady Tigers work overtime to improve to 22-0
LSU’s Alexis Morris missed all seven of her first-half field goal attempts Thursday night vs. Georgia and didn’t score a point.
Harassed by a double team, she badly missed a game-winning 3-point attempt as the final buzzer in the regulation play sounded.
But with 50 seconds left in overtime and having already missed six 3-pointers, Morris didn’t blink pulling the trigger swishing a deep-corner 3 for a 77-74 lead and the unbeaten 3rd ranked Tigers made 5 of 6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to earn a hard-fought 82-77 SEC win over the Lady Bulldogs before a Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 8,716.
“I'd like to be able to tell you just exactly how we won, but I don't know,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “They (Georgia) shot almost 55 percent (from the field) and we shot 36 (percent). With those kind of shooting percentages, you’re not supposed to win.
“Everything we did tonight, we labored to do. We labored to make the right pass. Give Georgia credit. That zone (defense) is tough. I guess we made enough plays at the right time to pull out the victory.”
LSU (22-0, 10-0 SEC) never really solved Georgia’s 1-2-2 zone defense (actually more of a matchup zone) because of the Lady Tigers’ impatience of not probing the zone enough to finally get the ball inside to Reese. She had her 22nd straight double-double with 23 points and 14 rebounds, but 9 of her points came off free throws after being fouled while retrieving offensive rebounds.
On the heels of LSU’s 76-68 Monday night home win over Tennessee, Reese and her teammates are beginning to understand how they are viewed.
“We’re the hunted,” Reese said. “They (Georgia) did a great job of scouting us. They didn’t lay down. They came in with nothing to lose. Honestly, it’s a wake-up call.”
Georgia (15-9, 4-6 SEC) basically followed the defensive philosophy used by Tennessee.
The Lady Bulldogs were committed to double-teaming Reese in the post in exchange for leaving Reese’s teammates free for open looks at the basket.
The plan backfired on the Lady Vols when Morris scored a career-high 31 points and Reese exploded in the second half to finish with 18 points and 17 rebounds.
But the Lady Tigers played into Georgia’s hands by attempting a season-high 23 3-point attempts and making just 6.
It wasn’t until LSU found itself staring at 59-50 deficit with 7:53 left in regulation that it started doing everything possible to get the ball inside to Reese.
The Lady Tigers erased Georgia’s lead with a 16-7 rally as Reese accounted for 10 points including 6 of 6 free throws to force overtime.
LSU reserve Kateri Poole tied the game at 66-66 with 57 seconds left in regulation with a free throw. Georgia turned the ball over with 7 seconds. LSU called timeout and the Lady Bulldogs forced Morris into a 3-point airball to send the game to overtime.
Morris, who finished with 15 points, scored 7 of LSU’s 16 overtime points. Reese had 5 points and 3 rebounds in the extra period. Freshman Flau’jae Johnson accounted for 4 points in OT, scoring a follow shot off a missed Reese free throw with 2:17 left and hitting two free throws with 15 seconds remaining for a 80-76 lead after she was fouled again grabbing a missed Reese free throw.
Georgia never trailed by more than four points in the first half as LSU led 30-29 at halftime.
LSU’s starters scored just 13 points in the first half with Morris going scoreless (0 for 7 field goals) and Reese scoring 7 on 3 of 9 shots.
If it wasn’t for LSU’s first-half bench play – Sa’myah Smith, Last-Tear Poa and Kateri Poole combined for 17 points and 6 rebounds – the Lady Tigers would have been in a world of hurt after the first 20 minutes.
And if LSU hadn’t dominated offensive rebounding 26-7 on the night resulting outscoring Georgia 20-6 in second-chance points, the Lady Tigers wouldn’t have been in position to pull out the win.
Georgia committed 25 turnovers and LSU converted the miscues into just 17 points. The Lady Tigers also missed 17 free throws (28 of 45).
Georgia first-year head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, who took over the Bulldogs after guiding UCF to a 26-4 record last year, was pleased with her team’s execution.
“Our thing was to stay steady and focused,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “We came out and fought and stayed together and stayed focused and stuck to the game plan.”
Abrahamson-Henderson’s trio of UCF transfers – Diamond Battles (22 points), Brittney Smith (13 points) and Alisha Lewis (11 points) – combined for 46 points.
LSU travels to Texas A&M (6-14, 1-9) for a 1 p.m. game Sunday afternoon. The Tigers pounded the then-injury riddled Aggies 74-34 on Jan. 5 in Baton Rouge. A&M’s lone SEC win was a 75-73 decision over Georgia on Jan. 22.