No. 7 LSU vs Northwestern State | NCAA Women's Basketball | 12.17.23

BATON ROUGE — LSU vs Northwestern State

No. 7 LSU was led by double-double duo of Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow as it defeated Northwestern State 81-36 on Sunday afternoon inside the PMAC to claim its 11th win in a row.

Reese led all scorers with 25 points and 14 rebounds for her fifth double-double of the season, second consecutive. Morrow finished with 16 points and hauled in 14 rebounds to make her season total 7 double-doubles, six in a row.

“​​The more they play together, the better they become,” Coach Kim Mulkey said about her post duo. “You better get a body on them because they will be around the goal when the ball is shot. Morrow defends on the perimeter a little bit better than Angel. Then Angel will strip someone on a pick while hedging.”

Mikaylah Williams was dry in the first half with no points, but got going in the second half to finish with 14 points and LSU’s only two made threes of the afternoon. Williams added 5 boards and three steals. Flau’Jae Johnson was the only other Tiger to reach double figures as she added 13 points, 5 assists, and 5 steals. Last-Tear Poa continued to impress as a starter, this time with a career high 6 steals to go with 4 assists.

Former Tiger Sharna Ayers led the Demons as the only player to reach double figures with 10. Ayres connected on 3 three-pointers and added 5 rebounds. Other top scorers for NSU include Jenny Ntambwe with 9 and Karmelah Dean with 7.

After starting off slow on the offensive end, LSU finished the day with a 43-percent field goal percentage compared to NSU’s 24-percent. Although the Tigers were not able to get hot shooting, the LSU defense was able to effectively use a full-court press from the very beginning of the game. The Demons edged out the home team from deep as they went 5-16 compared to LSU’s 2-15 on three-pointers. The Tigers forced 31 turnovers, 21 of them came in the form of a steal.

The Tigers will head to Baltimore, Maryland on Wednesday to take on Coppin State at 5:00 p.m. inside the Physical Education Complex Arena. It will be the first time Angel Reese has played in her hometown since transferring to LSU.

“It is going to be a surreal moment, it is my homecoming,” Reese said of the trip to Baltimore. “I think it is sold out right now. My Auntie went to Coppin State. Everybody is going to come out, I don’t know who they will be cheering for, Coppin or LSU, but I’m just excited to be able to see so many people in the community come out to see LSU.”

Reese scored 4 points and hauled in 3 rebounds in the first minute and a half of the first quarter to spark a 13-0 LSU run. Northwestern St. got on the board with an Ayres triple just before the first media timeout. Morrow finished the first quarter with 8 boards as the Tigers out-rebounded the Demons 14-8. LSU took a 19-6 lead into the second quarter.

Both teams were scoreless three minutes into the second quarter before Reese broke the drought with a putback layup. No one would score again until Ayres hit her second three of the night three minutes later to bring the Demon total to 9. Following the media timeout the LSU press was successful as it forced a 10-second backcourt violation. The Tigers forced 8 turnovers in the second quarter. LSU’s defense was able to offset the low scoring output in the second quarter as the Tigers went 4-15 for 26.7-percent.

After being outscored 6-2 to start the third quarter, LSU went on a 7-0 run as it forced 5 turnovers inside a 2:14 scoring drought. The Demons ended the drought following a timeout to make it 43-23. The Tigers continued to give NSU trouble on defense as they put together a 17-3 run. Williams ended the quarter with a three-pointer at the buzzer for the Tigers first points beyond the arch of the game.

NSU scored quickly in the fourth quarter but LSU responded well with a 9-0 run. The Demons were able to score on 5 free throws over two minutes through the middle of the quarter. Williams hit a three to regain the momentum and move the margin to 40-points. NSU finished just 1-14 from the field in the final half of the final quarter. LSU held on to its lead and finished with a 45-point win for its 11th straight win.