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BATON ROUGE - The No. 3 LSU Tigers (22-0, 10-0 SEC) remained undefeated on the season as they survived an 83-77 overtime thriller Thursday night in the PMAC over Georgia.
Going against Georgia’s matchup zone, LSU struggled to find a solid offensive rhythm, shooting a season-low 35.8-percent from the field. Meanwhile Georgia had the best shooting percentage of any LSU opponent this season, making 54.7-percent of its shots.
“That is an outstanding matchup zone,” Coach Kim Mulkey said.
For the first time this season LSU found itself trailing going into the final quarter. Georgia led by as many as nine early in the fourth, but the Tigers tied the game at 63 with 2:57 as the game entered its final minutes. LSU forced a turnover and got the ball back with 7.8 seconds left and got the ball back with the game tied at 66, but was not able to convert, sending the game to overtime.
Angel Reese gave LSU a one-point lead and then Alexis Morris got a steal and went all the way to the rack to give the Tigers a 72-69 lead with 3:43 left in the overtime. With the game tied at 74, Morris knocked down a corner three with 49.3 seconds left for LSU to take the lead back. LSU forced a stop and Reese got fouled going up for the rebound, going to the line where she made one-of-two free throws. After a Georgia bucket, Reese went back to the line where she missed both, but Johnson collected the rebound. The freshman Johnson made both to give LSU a four-point advantage, but she fouled out on the next possession, committing a foul on a three point attempt. Georgia’s De’Mauri Flourney made 1-of-3 and Morris grabbed the rebound up three. She went to the line with 1.1 second left and put the game away.
LSU’s 28 made free throws and 26 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second chance points allowed the Tigers to survive a hot-shooting Georgia team and a cold-shooting night for the Tigers.
“I can’t tell you we won because of this, this this - I can’t do that,” Coach Mulkey said. “I’d have to go back and evaluate the game. Even though we got to the foul line a lot, and that is hard to do against a zone, you’ve got to make your free throws. We missed 17 free throws.
“We, I guess you would say, made just enough plays at the right time to pull out a victory.”
The Tigers hauled in a season high 44 total rebounds as they picked up 26 of them on the offensive glass. LSU held Georgia to just 7 offensive boards and only 6 second chance points. The game was held within single digits for its entirety. There were 12 lead changes and a season high 16 total ties. LSU held the lead for 12:48 and Georgia was on top for 25:05.
Angel Reese led LSU with 23 points and 14 boards in her 22nd double-double in as many games to extend her LSU record.
After a career high 31-point performance Monday night, Alexis Morris followed with 15 points and added 3 threes when they were needed most. Morris scored 7 in the overtime period as she went a perfect 2-2 from the field, 1-1 from deep, and 2-2 from the line.
Grad transfer, LaDazhia Williams, and freshman, Sa’Myah Smith, came up big as they both scored ten in Thursday night’s victory.
Georgia’s Diamond Battles tallied 22 points and 4 rebounds. Brittney Smith followed with 13 points shooting 6-9 from the field. Three other Bulldogs scored in double figures; Jayvn Nicholson (12), Aisha Lewis (11), and Audrey Warren (10).
Looking ahead the Tigers will hit the road to take on Texas A&M Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT inside Reed Arena on ESPN2. LSU defeated the Aggies earlier this season in an impressive 74-34 win that saw Reese break the LSU single-game total rebound record with 28 boards.
After LSU took a 5-2 lead, Georgia went on a 7-0 run to go up by four early in the game. At the first media timeout the Tigers trailed 9-7 and looked to regroup, Georgia scored four more unanswered after the break before the freshman, Smith, hit a free throw to halt the run. The Tigers continued to battle through the matchup zone defense from the Bulldogs and ended the quarter down 15-10. LSU’s ability to get to the free throw line kept them close in the first quarter, scoring half its points from the charity stripe as the Tigers found themselves down after a quarter for just the second time this season.
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