WOMENS BASKETBALL
Louisiana State 83, Louisiana-Lafayette 53
By RON HIGGINS
Associated Press
BATON ROUGE, La. - Aneesah Morrow had 27 points and 10 rebounds as the No. 7 LSU women shook off some early lethargic play in an 83-53 win over UL-Lafayette.
Morrow and Angel Reese combined for 22 points in the Tigers’ 28-9 third-quarter run to break free from a halftime tie.
“My goal is to get a double-double every,” said Morrow, who had 53 double-doubles in 53 career games at DePaul the last two seasons before transferring to LSU. “I’m a double-double machine, and I’ve been that since my freshman year. I try to stay as consistent as I possibly can.”
Reese finished with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Mikaylah Williams added 18 points and 11 rebounds, hitting all four of the Tigers’ 3-pointers.
It was LSU’s first game in 10 days after taking a break for final exams. The Tigers (9-1) looked sloppy and out of sync for the entire first half and had to rally for a tie at the break.
Displeased LSU coach Kim Mulkey yanked four of her five starters after the game’s first two minutes and sat them on the bench for 2½ minutes.
That didn’t help. UL-Lafayette (3-3) led for almost 13 minutes of the first half, outscoring LSU 14-10 in points in the paint and 9-7 off turnovers.
“The way we started was not very good,” Mulkey said. “I don’t want to take anything away from ULL. Coach (Garry) Brodhead had them ready. Everything we did in the second half was totally opposite of what we did in the first half. It starts with your effort, your energy and your aggressiveness.”
The Tigers flipped the game in the third period. A Reese-Morrow fueled 15-0 run, combined with UL-Lafayette being held to 21.4% field-goal shooting (3 of 14) in the quarter, put away the feisty Ragin’ Cajuns.
“At the beginning of the game, our guards were jacking up and missing shots,” said Williams, a true freshman who’s second in the Southeastern Conference with shooting 51.1% from 3-point range. “Our core post players Annesah and Angel are beasts down there. They can get our offense going.”
Brandi Williams and Tamera Johnson led UL-Lafayette with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
BIG PICTURE
LSU: Louisville transfer Hailey Van Lith, who started the Tigers’ first nine games at point guard, sat out with an apparent wrist injury. Van Lith, who’s averaging 12.2 points and five assists, sat on the Tigers’ bench in street clothes with her left wrist wrapped.
UL-Lafayette: marked All-Sun Belt Conference guard Lanay Wheaton’s second game after returning from a knee injury. A year ago, Wheaton was the team’s leading scorer overall (12.3) and in Sun Belt play (14.2).
December 10, 2023
| Louisiana | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| T. Johnson | F | 35 | 5-9 | 2-3 | 1-2 | 0-3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 13 |
| M. Stewart | C | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 |
| B. Williams | G | 31 | 6-12 | 0-0 | 2-4 | 2-5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| D. Rice | G | 25 | 1-5 | 1-1 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| T. Robinson | G | 15 | 2-8 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| L. Wheaton | 14 | 2-6 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | |
| N. Benedith | 11 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| U. Franklin | 10 | 2-3 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | |
| W. Joseph | 10 | 1-2 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | |
| A. Blanton | 9 | 0-2 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 2-2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| J. James | 8 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| A. Jones | 6 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| J. Matthews | 6 | 1-4 | 1-2 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| I. Rothschild | 4 | 1-1 | 0-2 | 1-1 | 1-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| A. Sam | 4 | 1-1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| I. Ivery | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| D. Jones | 2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 22-58 (.379) |
5-12 (.417) |
4-11 (.364) |
8-22 | 4 | 1 | 12 | 17 | 33 | 53 | |
| LSU | ||||||||||||
| Player | Pos | Min | FG-FGA | FT-FTA | 3P-3PA | OR-TR | Ast | Blk | Stl | TO | PF | Pts |
| A. Reese | F | 33 | 5-10 | 10-18 | 0-1 | 3-9 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 20 |
| A. Morrow | F | 31 | 10-14 | 7-8 | 0-2 | 6-10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 27 |
| M. Williams | G | 35 | 6-13 | 2-2 | 4-8 | 4-11 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 18 |
| F. Johnson | G | 32 | 1-8 | 2-3 | 0-4 | 1-6 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| L. Poa | G | 32 | 0-1 | 1-2 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| A. Del Rosario | 16 | 2-2 | 3-4 | 0-0 | 1-8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | |
| J. Kent | 10 | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| A. Bartlett | 5 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 3-3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| A. Velez | 5 | 0-1 | 2-2 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | |
| I. Besselman | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Totals | 200 | 26-54 (.481) |
27-39 (.692) |
4-17 (.235) |
19-52 | 19 | 7 | 9 | 17 | 14 | 83 | |
Officials: Katie Lukanich, Ify Seales, Royce Blevins
Attendance: 10,794
