WOMENS BASKETBALL

South Carolina 76, Louisiana State 70

RON HIGGINS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

BATON ROUGE, La. - Bree Hall made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:14 remaining, and No. 1 South Carolina rallied from an 11-point deficit to beat ninth-ranked and defending national champion LSU 76-70.

Chloe Kitts scored 14 points to lead the Gamecocks (18-0, 6-0 Southeastern Conference), who beat the Tigers (18-3, 5-2) for the 15th straight time and snapped LSU’s 29-game home winning streak.

Raven Johnson had 13 points, Te-Hina Paopao 12 and Kamilla Cardoso 11. Hall finished with 10 points, eight in the final seven minutes.

Aneesah Morrow had 16 points and 13 rebounds for LSU. Angel Reese had 15 points and eight rebounds but fouled out with 4:02 left and the Tigers clinging to a 67-65 lead. Johnson hit two free throws to tie it, and LSU made only one basket the rest of the way — a 3-pointer by Hailey Van Lith that tied the game at 70-all with 1:42 left.

Van Lith finished with 12 points. Mikaylah Williams scored 12 and Flau’jae Johnson had 10.

LSU led 24-18 after one quarter and 41-30 late in the second, but the Gamecocks closed the period with a 6-0 run, including a 3 by MiLaysia Fulwiley at the buzzer.

South Carolina took its first lead since the first basket of the game when Cardoso converted a layup for a 63-61 advantage with 6:06 left in the fourth.

BIG PICTURE

South Carolina: The Gamecocks improved to 5-0 against ranked opponents and face only one more team in their final 11 regular-season games that’s currently ranked — No. 8 UConn, which visits on Feb. 11.

LSU: Coach Kim Mulkey dropped to 1-4 against South Carolina — 0-3 in three seasons with LSU and 1-1 in her 21 seasons with Baylor. Her only win over the Gamecocks came in a regional semifinal of the 2019 NCAA Tournament, which concluded with Baylor capturing its third national title under Mulkey.

South Carolina athletics press release

January 25, 2024