1/19/2023 basketball Edit

Unbeaten No. 3 Lady Tigers dig deep for 19th straight victory

LSU forward Angel Reese blocks an Arknasas shot with her right hand while she holds her shoe in her left hand after it fell off a few seconds before in the Lady Tigers' SEC win over the Razorbacks on Thursday night in the PMAC. (Courtesy of LSU Athletics)

Ron Higgins • Death Valley Insider

Columnist

Angel Reese, LSU’s “walking double-double,” carried No. 3 LSU as far as she could Thursday night.

But it was freshman guard Flau’jae Johnson who pushed the Lady Tigers across the finish line a winner.

Johnson calmly made of 4 of 4 in the final 16 seconds to keep LSU unbeaten in a 79-76 SEC thriller over Arkansas in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

“I did not even feel nervous,” Johnson said. “I shoot that shot every day, and I make that shot every day. I just got to do what I do."

The Lady Tigers (19-0, 7-0 SEC) trailed Arkansas (17-4, 4-2 SEC) 74-71 with 3:21 left before LSU closed the game on an 8-2 run starting with Reese’s final basket in her fabulous 30 points and 19 rebounds performance.

“I thought that we played our hearts out,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “I felt that we didn't lose our composure. We were probably a better team and I was the worst coach because I just turned at times to our bench and said `I'm not calling a play. Let them figure it out. We need to grow up right here.’”

Reese’s 19th straight double-double tied the LSU record for consecutive double-doubles held by former all-American Sylvia Fowles.

But Reese, a sophomore transfer from Maryland, had plenty of help from Johnson and graduate transfers LaDazhia Williams (Missouri) and Jasmine Carson (West Virginia).

Johnson finished with 19 points and 6 rebounds, Williams had 11 points and 12 rebounds and Carson ended with 10 points and 4 assists.

"Flau'jae is the hardest working player I've ever played with," Reese said. "She gets in the gym, she's hard on herself. She works very hard to be an athlete, a student, and a rapper. She works at everything she does on the court ,off the court and in the classroom.".

Arkansas had five players score in double figures, led by Erynn Barnum’s 20 points.

LSU came out of the starting gate hitting its first 4 of 6 shots and built a double-digit lead in 2 ½ minutes. But the Lady Tigers missed their last six of shots and exited the first quarter leading 22-16.

The Razorbacks refused to let LSU pull away. The Lady Tigers scored 7 straight times four times in the opening half yet Arkansas didn’t disappear.

It forced LSU into 11 first-half turnovers and held the Lady Tigers to one field goal in the final five minutes of the second quarter. Much to the chagrin of an animated Mulkey, Arkansas scored two layups in the final 44 seconds to slice LSU’s halftime lead to 38-30.

Reese scored 15 of the Lady Tigers’ 23 third-quarter points. But Arkansas scored 30 by hitting almost 60 percent of its field goal attempts and LSU led just 61-57 entering the final quarter.

The Lady Tigers initially had few defensive answers as Arkansas spread the floor and kept successfully driving to the basket.

Arkansas hit its first 6 of 7 shots to open the fourth quarter before LSU tightened its defense as the Razorbacks missed their last 4 of 5 shots.

"It's one possession here and one possession there that will keep you awake on the plane home," Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors said. "But I'm not going to be too hard on ourselves. LSU is one of the best teams in the country, and we're just not far off."

LSU, No. 1 South Carolina and Tennessee remained tied at the top of the SEC. The Lady Tigers play again Monday at Alabama before having a week before they play Tennessee in the PMAC on Jan. 30.

“We've got a special group in there,” Mulkey said of her team. “They don't know how good they can be. I don't know how good they can be.

“But what I do know is they got fight in them. They got what you call `ball’ in them. They’re like `Coach, we're not gonna give up, we're gonna fight to the bitter end.’”