BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Flau’jae Johnson had 24 points and seven rebounds as No. 7 LSU blew out Northwestern State 95-36 on Friday night.
Mikaylah Williams added 16 points, Kailyn Gilbert had 13 and Aneesah Morrow 11 for the Tigers (2-0).
Vernell Atamah had nine points and seven rebounds for Northwestern State (1-1).
The Lady Demons scored 20 points in the final three quarters, during which they made 6 of 43 shots (13.9%) and committed 21 turnovers, leading to 34 points for LSU.
Takeaways
Northwestern State: The Demons were completely overwhelmed in this intrastate matchup after they scored the last six points of the opening quarter to trail by 10.
LSU: With a guard-heavy roster, coach Kim Mulkey is relying heavily on full-court defensive pressure and a quick tempo. She’s sending in reserves in waves to keep her team fresh.
Key moment
Leading by 10 points against an inferior opponent at the end of the first quarter, LSU turned up the defensive heat. The Tigers’ full-court presses and solid rotations resulted in Northwestern having more turnovers (18) than points (14) in the second and third quarters combined. LSU outscored the Demons 50-14 over those periods to take a 74-28 lead at the end of the third.
Key stat
Northwestern State missed 21 of 22 shots during a stretch that began late in the second quarter and didn’t end until Mya Blake made a layup with 7:16 left in the game.
Up next
Northwestern State is home Tuesday night against Arkansas Baptist.
LSU hosts Charleston Southern on Tuesday morning in the Tigers’ annual “Field Trip” game, which schoolchildren from the surrounding area are invited to attend.
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