The LSU Lady Tigers powered pass the Ole Miss Rebels 84-55 in its annual Play4Kay Game, due to a huge night by senior guard Raigyne Louis.
The Lady Tigers wore pink uniforms and honored breast cancer survivors at the half in memory of NC State and US women’s national coach Kay Yow, who passed away from breast cancer in 2009.
Louis moved to 10th all-time in points at LSU ahead of former center Alisha Jones. She has tallied 1614 points in her career at LSU.
“It is a blessing,” she said. “You think of all of the great players that came through LSU, all the banners that have been hanged up like the Final Fours. Hopefully, I continue to grow and just take things one step at a time.”
Ole Miss (11-15, 1-12 SEC) took an early 7-2 lead, but the Lady Tigers (17-7, 9-4 SEC) took control of the game with a 10-0 run, and LSU never looked back.
Sophomore forward Ayana Mitchell led the way for a Lady Tigers’ team that struggled to get it leading scorers, Louis and junior guard Chloe Jackson, involved in the first quarter,
Mitchell had seven points in the quarter while LSU’s two leading scorers had just five. Sophomore guard Jaelyn Richard-Harris contributed six.
Louis would find her way back into the scoring column in the second quarter as she entered the top 10 with a big 12-point quarter.
Louis’ play helped LSU go on a 15-0 run in the second quarter to put the game out of reach as they outscored the Rebels 20-8 in the quarter.
“Ole Miss is still a good team, rankings or not,” Mitchell said. “It helped us out to finish our layups, but we owned up on our defense to get some stops.”
The Lady Tigers would not relent in the third quarter as the Lady Tigers extended its lead to 25 points as LSU took a 64-39 lead to end the quarter.
LSU would continue its onslaught into the fourth to close out the game with a 84-55 win after playing most of the quarter without its starters.
Along with Louis, LSU was also led by Mitchell and Jackson with 16 points each. Richard-Harris contributed 11 points.
The Lady Tigers tied a season high with nine three-pointers. The 29 point margin was the largest of the season by LSU.
“We made nine, they only made one,” coach Nikki Fargas said. “We are not known as a three point shooting team, but I did stress to our team that we are a midrange jump shooting team. We need to knock those down so that threes become easier.”