It was a back and forth battle in the bayou. The Tigers took the court on Monday night against the 14-3 Vanderbilt Commodores in their fourth conference game of the season. LSU remains undefeated after winning 83-77.
The offense didn’t have the explosiveness that people were used to seeing. This was only the sixth time this season the Tigers scored under 85 points. However, with the help of its big three, Flau’jae Johnson, Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams, they prevailed.
Johnson led the way by scoring 25 points, five rebounds and four assists. Mikaylah Williams put up 20 points, five rebounds and five assists. Morrow added 23 points and 15 rebounds and became the eighth player in NCAA DI history to record 2,500 points and 1,500 rebounds in a career.
“I once had the game taken away from me,” Morrow said. “Every time I step on the floor every night, I give it my all because you never know when your last game is and I love basketball that much, so I have to come out and give everything I got, whether it’s practice or a real game.”
Vanderbilt came in as the underdogs and just like any underdog, your job is to make the game sloppy and keep the deficit as close as you can. That’s exactly what they did.
Both teams shot poorly in the first half.
From the field, LSU shot 39.4%, from the three-point line they shot 20% and even from the free-throw line they shot only 62.5%.
For the Commodores, it wasn’t much better. Their splits were 41.4%, 33.3% and 76% from the free-throw line.
On defense, Vanderbilt was doing it all, forcing LSU into bad shots, offensive fouls and turnovers.
“We just got sloppy,” head coach Kim Mulkey said. “Turnovers in any sport will cost you, we’ve just been fortunate enough to score one more bucket than somebody else.”
The Tigers tallied 12 personal fouls, with four different players getting two fouls. They also turned the ball over 12 times in the first half. Once again, Vanderbilt was the same as its opponent.
The Commodores also had 12 personal fouls to go along with their 15 turnovers. Each team wreaking havoc on the other produced a tied game at half, 37 a piece.
“I want to give them credit,” Mulkey said. “They’re coming off of two losses, and sometimes you can fold or bow your neck and I just thought they bowed their neck.”
The second half was filled with more offense but Vanderbilt didn’t go anywhere. In the third, they scored 20 points and shot 66.7% from the field.
Even with LSU scoring 21 points in the third quarter and shooting 50% from the field, the Tigers only led by one heading into the fourth. Of their 20 points, Williams produced 11, leading the team that quarter. Her impact on the offense was needed, hitting timely shots to ensure Vanderbilt didn’t gain any momentum.
In crunch time, LSU turned to its best player in Johnson. She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter to put away the Commodores.
In a game where the bench only scored nine points, the big three of Johnson, Morrow and Williams stepped up in this one.
The Tigers will get a few days off before they travel to Gainesville to take on the Florida Gators on Sunday night.
