The win wasn’t pretty, and it didn’t come easy, but it’s a win, and that’s all LSU can ask for.
The Tigers escaped Georgia Thursday night with an 82-77 win in overtime. The Tigers improve to 22-0 on the season and 10-0 in SEC play. It was also the team’s Turner Syndrome Awareness Game.
Just like their undefeated season, Angel Reese’s double-double streak continues. The sophomore forward led the Tigers in the crucial minutes toward the end of regulation and in overtime. She finished the game with a team-high of 23 points along with 14 rebounds, and she shot 9 of 15 at the free-throw line.
“I try not to give up, and I know they need me,” Reese said. “I just try to do the best that I can. I think a lot of teams have scouted me well before they play me which is good for them. But I can’t give up, I can’t get down on my team, I can’t get in my head and be emotional about it. I just have to go with it and fight through it.”
Especially in the first half, LSU’s bench kept them in the game. Sa’Myah Smith led the bench players with 10 points along with five rebounds. Last-Tear Poa added six points off the bench, and Kateri Poole added five points, four rebounds and four assists.
Alexis Morris was right beside Reese in leading the charge in overtime. The fifth-year senior finished the game with 15 points, including two impactful made threes.
LaDazhia Williams also finished in double figures with 10 points and eight rebounds.
For the overwhelming majority of the game, Georgia outplayed LSU. They left it all out on the court, as two different Georgia players fouled out, and four different players had four fouls.
“Very proud of them, we came out really hard,” Georgia head coach, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson, said. “They came out tonight, they fought, they stayed together, they stayed focused, they stick to the game plan, the only thing we didn’t really do well was box out.”
Diamond Battles led Georgia with 22 points along with four rebounds and three assists.
Along with Battles, four other Bulldogs scored in double figures. Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Javyn Nicholson scored 12, Alisha Lewis scored 11 along with seven assists, and Audrey Warren scored 10.
“I thought their effort and their energy particularly in the first half was better than ours,” Mulkey said. “They had more oomph about them, getting the loose balls. We didn’t.”
But Georgia separated itself on defense. The Bulldogs ran a zone defense that the Tigers hadn’t seen all year. With the matchup with Tennessee on Monday night, the team only really had one day to practice maneuvering around that type of defense.
“That is an outstanding matchup zone,” Mulkey said. “I knew it when I saw them play other teams…you give Georgia credit.”
While the team sits undefeated, the road doesn’t get smoother from Thursday night. After the Tigers travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M Sunday afternoon, they will go a whole week without a game until their biggest challenge of the season in No.1-ranked, South Carolina.
The matchup against Texas A&M could present itself as a “trap game,” as it would be easy to look ahead to South Carolina. But as long as LSU continues to take its season one game at a time, one win at a time, Sunday’s game should go as planned.
“We know what we face, we’ll get in the film room, and we’ll get at it tomorrow [Friday],” Mulkey said.
LSU takes on Texas A&M on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas. The game will be televised on ESPN2.
