By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – The general criticism of Kailyn Gilbert in her 55-game, two-year Arizona basketball career was she was a brilliant scorer who didn’t like to pass or play defense.
Though she was the Wildcats’ leading scorer as a sophomore, the Florida native twice entered the transfer portal before disappearing late last February when Wildcats coach Adia Barnes dismissed Gilbert from the team.
Barnes and her remaining players acted like Gilbert was a missing person who wouldn’t be missed.
A trouble child?
Not in LSU head coach Kim Mulkey’s eyes. After several heart-to-heart talks, Mulkey signed Gilbert last April. And here Sunday afternoon in the Pete Maravich Assembly, the junior reserve guard from Tampa Bay proved again why a fresh start in a new situation is not a bad thing.
Gilbert scored 17 points in just more than 17 minutes, including 11 in the second quarter when the Tigers flipped a five-point first-period deficit into a 14-point halftime and eventually coasted in for a 73-63 victory over Auburn.
Paired with Annesah Morrow’s 21 points and 15 rebounds, Gilbert’s effort kept the Tigers unbeaten (17-0, 2-0 SEC) as they continued their second-best start in school history.
“Ultimately, I just want to prove that I’m a coachable player,” said Gilbert, who’s averaging 11.3 points in 20.3 minutes off the bench, including 16.5 points on 16-of-22 field goal shooting (72.7 percent) in SEC play. “A lot of people said a lot of negative things about me in the portal. It was very frustrating.”
When Mulkey signed Gilbert, they both leveled with each other.
“I’ve said it many times to her in recruiting her that I don’t judge you based on what other people tell me about you,” Mulkey said. “I judge you on my interactions with you.
“I find that a lot in life, people are a bunch of liars. That kid wants to win. That kid owned what she needed to work on. I told her you cannot get on the floor if you don’t give me effort on the defensive end. She hasn’t been a liability on the defensive end. She can score with the best I’ve ever coached.”
In LSU’s closest victory of the season, Gilbert weaved her way through a maze of arms and scooped in a game-winning layup in the Tigers’ 68-67 win over Washington in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo championship on Nov. 25.
Three games later, she ripped Stanford for 25 points in LSU’s 94-88 home overtime win.
And there she was against Auburn, re-igniting LSU after it committed six turnovers in its first 16 possessions as the visitors led 16-11 at the end of the first quarter.
In LSU’s 27-7 second-quarter domination of AU en route to a 38-24 halftime lead, Gilbert and Morrow combined for 19 points on 8 of 8 field goals. Morrow opened the period with a follow shot of a Mikaylah Williams missed jumper and Gilbert closed the quarter with a buzzer-beating 12-foot fadeaway jumper off a 1-on-1.
“She gave us a lot of energy,” Morrow of Gilbert. “She’s doing this every game pushing the tempo.”
Auburn head coach Johnnie Harris said Gilbert’s instant offense combined with Auburn’s leading scorer DeYona Gaston being saddled with foul trouble emphatically changed momentum toward LSU.
“She’s a tough matchup,” Harris said of Gilbert. “She’s a three-level scorer who gave them a shot in the arm. And when Gaston went out with foul trouble, it was just tough for us.
“We replaced her with a freshman and it was tough for her to guard (LSU’s inside game). And on the defensive end, LSU no longer had to sag in.”
Gaston, a 6-3 grad transfer from the University of Texas, entered the day averaging 23.2 points. She finished with 16 points in 16 minutes, scoring 10 in the final quarter.
While LSU’s Flau’Jae Johnson and Williams didn’t have their best of days – they shot a combined 8 of 22 from the field with Johnson scoring 12 and Williams 10 – the Tigers found paths to victory because of their depth.
“People are good in this league,” Mulkey said. “Coaches are good. They’re going to scout you. They’re going to take away things that you do well, and so somebody else has got to step up.”
LSU hits the road again on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. CT for a showdown at Tennessee. The 15th-ranked Lady Vols (13-1, 1-1 SEC) suffered their first loss on Sunday, falling at home 87-86 to No. 9 Oklahoma.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com