Reese gets by with a little help from her friends, No. 3 LSU stays unbeaten
Third-ranked LSU showed all the doubters Monday night that the Lady Tigers are more than just the inside dominance of sophomore forward Angel Reese.
Reese came alive in the second half when she scored 14 of her game-total 18 points, but it was the best performance of senior guard Alexis Morris’ career that kept LSU unbeaten before a Pete Maravich Assembly Center record crowd of 15,157.
Morris scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in a 76-68 victory over Tennessee to push the Lady Tigers record to 21-0 overall and 9-0 in the SEC.
“I had to be the player to stay poised because I’m experienced and have been there before,” said Morris, who kept the Lady Tigers afloat in the first half when Reese was held to 4 points and 4 rebounds.
Reese didn’t mind having help when she needed it the most.
“I’ve never really been on a team where nobody cares about scoring much,” said Reese, who also had 18 rebounds for her 21st straight double-double. “Alexis carried us, so I’m happy to have a teammate to rely on so I don’t have to do all the work.
LSU led the entire game except for 39 seconds in the second quarter before a 10-0 Lady Tigers’ run got them to halftime leading 34-29.
In the second half, Tennessee (16-8, 8-1 SEC) cut LSU’s lead to 53-52 with 7:43 left to play.
Lady Vols forward Rickea Jackson missed a game-tying free throw, Reese collected the rebound and threw an outlet pass to Morris, who blew past the entire UT defense for a layup to start a three-point play igniting an 11-0 run.
The Lady Vols (16-8, 8-1 SEC) used a full-court press and the last two of their 8 three-pointers on the night to keep the game close. It forced LSU to salt away the victory at the free throw line where the Lady Tigers were a perfect 8 of 8 in the final four minutes.
“I said to our team before the game `Who are we. . . whoever we are to win 20 games, just keep doing what you’re doing’,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “We’ve been going to the foul line all year. We never stopped being aggressive.”
Tennessee coach Kellie Harper’s game-plan to limit Reese and make the rest of her LSU teammates beat the Lady Vols worked for the most part.
“She didn’t get a lot of great looks within the offense,” Harper said of Reese, who made just 5 of 14 field goals but also hit 8 of 9 free throws. “Our team did a pretty good limiting her easy opportunities.”
Three different defenders – 6-3 Karoline Striplin, 6-5 Georgia transfer Jillian Hollingshead and 6-2 Mississippi State transfer Rickea Jackson – took turns guarding Reese.
The latter two defenders played excellent fronting ball denial defense with backside defensive help. Reese had made just 2 of 5 shots in the first half and had no offensive rebounds in the first two quarters.
LSU’s five-point halftime lead was built on the shoulders of Morris. She scored 13 first-half points on four mid-range jumpers and two drives, one of which produced a three-point play.
After making it through the first half with one foul, Reese cranked up the intensity in the third quarter. She became fully engaged, scoring 4 points and grabbing 7 rebounds in the first five minutes of the period as LSU’s lead ballooned to 48-34.
From that point on, the game turned into physical free-for-all.
The Lady Vols went on 13-2 run to close the third quarter trailing 50-47. Tennessee opened the rally with a 7-0 burst, fueled by four Lady Tigers’ turnovers vs. Tennessee’s 2-2-1 defensive press.
But LSU used some sticky defense of its own – the Lady Tigers had 10 steals on the night including 5 by Morris and 3 by Reese – to flip momentum back to the home team in the game’s last 7½ minutes.
Jordan Walker led the Vols with 19 points and Jackson added 17 for a team that entered the night winning 9 of its last 10 games.
The Lady Vols usually wear out opponents with depth in their 10-woman playing rotation. But they only outscored LSU eight-woman rotation 15-13 as the Lady Tigers got excellent bench play from Sa’Myah Smith (6 points) and Last-Tea Poa 5 points).
Monday’s win was the start of three SEC games in seven days for LSU. The Lady Tigers are at home Thursday at 7 p.m. vs. Georgia before traveling to Texas A&M for a Sunday 1 p.m. affair.
“A lot of people have question marks about us and we’re good with that,” said Mulkey, noting LSU’s detractors pointing out the Lady Tigers have yet to play a ranked team. “We still have those question marks today. It just feeds our hunger.”