BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Reese had 23 points and 26 rebounds to tie Sylvia Fowles’ LSU record of 27 double-doubles in a season, and the fifth-ranked Tigers topped Mississippi State, 74-59 on Sunday night.
Alexis Morris also scored 23 for LSU (27-1, 15-1 SEC) and nearly had three more when she hit a more than half-court shot moments after the third quarter expired. LaDazhia Williams added 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting for the Tigers, whose regular-season record matched the program’s best, set in the 2004-05 season by a squad starring Seimone Augustus.
JerKaila Jordan, a New Orleans native who’s been among the SEC’s most productive players this month, scored 16 for Mississippi State (20-9, 9-7), which had won five of its previous six before visiting an LSU team whose only loss this season came at unbeaten and top-ranked South Carolina.
LSU missed all 14 of its shots from 3-point range, but got away with it because of Reese’s and Williams’ productivity in the paint. The Tigers pulled down 21 offensive rebounds and finished with a 24-2 advantage in second-chance points.
Morris and Williams, both seniors playing their final regular-season home game at LSU, each scored 10 points in the first half and were instrumental in helping the Tigers take a lead as large as 12 in the second quarter.
Williams’ layup ignited a 10-3 run during which the center added another layup, as well as an offensive rebound that set up Morris’ jumper.
Morris hit two more jump shots during the spurt to make it 36-24.
The Bulldogs scored the final six points of the period, highlighted by Ramani Parker’s 3, and cut it to 36-30 at halftime.
But LSU never saw its lead drop below five in the second half and was not threatened down the stretch.
BIG PICTURE
Mississippi State: Did not lead by more than two points and trailed for all of the final three periods in falling to 5-24 all time in Baton Rouge. The Bulldogs have lost the past three meetings.
LSU: Improved to 53-7 since coach Kim Mulkey left Baylor to take over the Tigers before the 2021-22 season. The sellout crowd of 15, 721 erupted when senior Emily Ward, a Bossier City, Louisiana, native who averages just a few minutes per game, checked into the game for the final minute. They cheered again when she grabbed an offensive rebound.
UP NEXT
Mississippi State: Opens SEC Tournament play in Greenville, South Carolina, as the No. 5 seed on Thursday against the winner of Wednesday’s game between 12th-seeded Vanderbilt and No. 13 seed Texas A&M.
LSU: Has a double bye in the SEC Tournament as the No. 2 seed and opens postseason play in the quarterfinal round on Friday against the winner of Thursday’s game between No. 7-seed Georgia and 10th-seeded Auburn.