WOMENS BASKETBALL

Louisiana State 85, Alabama 66

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, La. - Angel Reese had 27 points and 19 rebounds, Flau’jae Johnson added 16 points and No. 13 LSU dominated the second half for an 85-66 victory over Alabama.

LSU stormed out of the halftime break and scored 15 of the first 16 points in the third quarter to erase a 41-31 halftime deficit and take a 46-42 lead with 5 1/2 minutes left in the period. Reese scored seven points, Mikaylah Williams four and Last-Tear Poa four in the run.

Alabama finally got it going and regained the lead 47-46 with a 3-pointer by Aaliyah Nye — her fourth of the game — and a pair of free throws from Jessica Timmons.

LSU went up 59-50 on a fastbreak layup by Johnson after a behind-the-back pass from Last-Tear Poa. Reese finished off the 30-point third-quarter with a buzzer-beating putback of her own miss. LSU had a 24-16 advantage in the fourth.

Alabama didn’t make a two-point shot in the second-half until Nye scored with 2:23 remaining in the fourth. The Crimson Tide made 6 of 18 3-pointers and 2 of 9 two-point tries in the second half and were outscored 54-25.

Reese added six assists, including a one-handed pass to Johnson for a 3-pointer. Williams had 14 points and nine rebounds and Aneesah Morrow scored nine points to pass 2,000 for her career. Poa finished with 11 points, six rebounds and four assists for LSU (21-4, 8-3 SEC).

Nye had 19 points, Loyal McQueen 14, Timmons 13 and Sarah Ashlee Barker 11 for Alabama (19-7, 6-5), which saw the end of a four-game winning streak. Alabama attempted 37 3-pointers and made 14 for 38%.

Alabama hit six 3-pointers in the first quarter and led 23-14 heading to the second period. Nye made 3 of 5 from distance and scored 11 points. McQueen had six points on 2 of 4 3-pointers.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Timmons and Barker helped Alabama to an 11-point lead midway through the second quarter before LSU scored the next five points to get within 35-29. That was as close as the Tigers would get before halftime and the Crimson Tide went on to lead 41-31 at the break.

Louisiana State athletics press release

February 11, 2024