BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Flau’jae Johnson scored 27 points and Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 13 rebounds as No. 7 LSU beat Troy 98-59 Monday night.
Johnson, who also had nine rebounds and five assists, scored 19 of her points in the first half as the Tigers (5-0) built a 58-24 lead at halftime. Morrow’ had her 78th career-double. Mikaylah Williams added 14 points and Jersey Wolfenbarger scored 12.
Troy (1-4) was led by Ashley Baez with 12 points. Fortuna Ngnawo had 10.
Takeaways
Troy: The visiting Trojans, despite playing hard, weren’t able to challenge LSU.
LSU: After allowing Murray State to lead for more than 18½ minutes in a 74-60 comeback on Friday, the Tigers took control immediately.
Key moment
Better attention to detail, especially with improved defensive rotation, helped LSU build a double-digit lead in the first three minutes. By the end of the first quarter, the Tigers had a 21-point lead on the strength of scoring 18 points off 10 Troy turnovers.
Key stat
LSU senior guard Last Tear-Poa, who took 31 charges last season, drew her first three charges of the year. Monday’s game was just Poa’s second of the season after she missed the first three taking care of personal business, according to LSU head coach Kim Mulkey. The absence wasn’t related to native Australian Poa filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services after her P-1A Athlete visa application was denied. Her current F-1 student visa restricts engaging in no-work-study employment; therefore she can’t earn NIL money.
Up next
Troy begins play Friday in the Great Alaskan Shootout against Alaska-Anchorage. LSU hosts Tulane on Wednesday night in the final of a six-game, season-opening homestand.
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