LSU women’s basketball took on the Morgan State Bears on Tuesday morning, with over 9,000 local school students in attendance for the annual field trip game.
The Tigers extended their win streak to 12-0, with a final score of 91-33.
Through the first half of the game, steady consistency was able to drive 55 points into the basket, compared to the Bears’ 17 points after the first half.
Compared to the previous game against Louisiana Tech from Saturday night, the Tigers already looked much more cohesive straight away. On offense, they finished every rebound that was within grasp.
The only slight problem came from the free-throw line. Through the first two periods, the success rate was well above 50%, but in the third period, it fell to 42.9% and 3-for-7 on shot attempts.
Although this game was another success for the Tigers, conference play is approaching quickly, and head coach Kim Mulkey is reminding her players that this is not to be taken lightly.
“Coach Mulkey has vocalized, taking charges a lot,” freshman ZaKiyah Johnson said. “I have never really taken a charge before, but I need to because I’m smaller, so just kind of gambling out a little bit.”
One thing she is taking seriously this time around is that her defense needs to improve without a doubt to ensure that, when games get tight in close moments later into conference play, there are no free points given to any other team.
“We just got to get better disciplined, better fundamentals,” Mulkey said. “We gamble too much, we are an exciting team to watch, but we need to know the difference on when to gamble and when to stay in stance, but we will continue to work defensively.”
So far this season, the defense has allowed only 54.3 points per game. Although only non-conference teams are being played, it’s still a strong number to start with. With SEC play around the corner, the newcomers and veterans will have to kick it into overdrive if the Tigers want to see the courts in Arizona next spring.
While LSU has some sizable players to its advantage, it’s the deceptively quick players who, although they aren’t the biggest, will make worlds of difference come conference play.
“I feel like, just in every area, whether it’s quickness, whether it’s straight line drives, just being in the right positions and being able to help my teammates when I can. I feel like it’s really important, especially going to this different level of play,” freshman Grace Knox said.
The Tigers are still well into the dogfight for a chance to return to the Final Four, and with continued discipline as the conference schedule creeps up, this team of newcomers and veterans could be unstoppable.
