A win is a win, even if it wasn’t very clean, and especially if it didn’t come easy.
LSU defeated Rice 70-60 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, and the Tigers will take on Middle Tennessee in the Round of 32.
The Tigers will take on the Blue Raiders, who defeated Louisville 71-69 in the opening round, on Sunday with the time to be determined. The game will be at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
Rice showed the PMAC crowd that nothing is guaranteed in March. The Owls always stuck around, as LSU’s largest lead was 11 points halfway through the fourth quarter.
What hindered the Tigers most was their 24 turnovers, allowing Rice to execute on the offensive end. LSU finished shooting 21-49 (42.9%) from the field, and 6-for-15 (40%) from three.
“Of course, we have to clean that up,” Reese said. “We’ll get back in the lab, figure out what we messed up on in film, and move onto the next game.”
Aneesah Morrow led the team with 15 points along with seven rebounds. She shot 6-for-11 from the field, and 3-for-5 at the foul line.
Morrow stepped up in an important way for the Tigers, as Rice made containing Reese a priority.
“It’s something I’ve really been working on all season long,” Morrow said. “I feel like I’m more of a physical leader, and just trying to be as much of a verbal leader as I possibly can be.”
Rice’s defensive efforts against Angel Reese were significant, holding her to zero points from the field in the first half. She was 6-for-6 from the foul line, but didn’t make her first field goal until three-and-a-half minutes in the third quarter.
However, Reese still finished with a double-double despite shooting 1-for-7 from the field. She finished with 10 points and 19 rebounds, shooting 8-for-12 from the foul line.
But Reese never found her footing in the game long-term, as she led the team in turnovers with six. Hailey Van Lith and Mikaylah Williams each had five turnovers.
Flau’jae Johnson was right behind with 14 points, shooting 5-for-9 from the field and 2-for-4 from three. Williams added 14 points, shooting 5-for-10 from the field, and 2-for-4 from three.
Despite LSU’s scoring efforts, Rice never seemed to go away. The Owls always had an answer for LSU, especially off of turnovers, as they scored 16 points off of turnovers from LSU.
Destiny Jackson led Rice 15 points, shooting 6-for-13 from the field, and 2-for-3 from three. She also added three rebounds and four assists.
Malia Fisher finished with 13 points. She shot 6-for-15 from the field along with 1-for-5 from three. She also added five rebounds and two assists. Fisher fouled out of the game with just under five-and-a-half minutes left in the fourth quarter.
Emily Klaczek was a threat from the perimeter for Rice, as she finished with 10 points, shooting 3-for-11 from three.
LSU’s 30 defensive rebounds were hard for Rice to answer. The Tigers finished with 42 rebounds as a team, scored 12 points off rebounds, and seven points in fastbreaks. They also added another 13 points off offensive rebounds.
Survive and advance; the common mantra for all teams in the NCAA Tournament. The same goes for LSU. And just as it was Friday, nothing ahead of the game in front of them is guaranteed.
Rice was playing its best basketball all-season, as they were on a four-game win-streak going into its NCAA Tournament opener with the Tigers.
Middle Tennessee has won 20 straight games, proving its legitimacy even more against Louisville. And despite being down by double digits at halftime, the No. 11 seed Blue Raiders never backed down, and took down the No. 6 seeded Cardinals.
“Middle Tennessee really executes their sets. They’re going to get the shot the want,” Van Lith said. “It’s up to us to make them do stuff they don’t want to do.”
The Tigers look to continue their season with another win on Sunday in another game where they’ll have to work all four quarters for that win.
