By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
ATHENS, Ga. – Four days after she was held scoreless for the second time in her college career, LSU senior guard Flau’jae Johnson shook off a nagging ankle injury and put on a show for her home folks Thursday night.
Johnson, a Savannah native, scored 15 of her 25 points in the now-12th-ranked Tigers’ dominating fourth quarter to finish an 80-59 SEC victory here Thursday night.
LSU (15-2, 1-2 SEC) lost its first two league games by a combined six points to Kentucky and Vanderbilt, blowing seven-point fourth-quarter leads in each defeat.
The formula was similar in both cases – too many missed shots, especially layups. Additionally, there were other flaws, including giving up too many second-chance points and committing unforced turnovers.
Against the Bulldogs (15-2, 1-2 SEC), the Tigers made their last 13 of 16 field goal attempts, including 9 of 11 in the fourth quarter. LSU finished the game hitting 22 of 27 layups after missing a combined 22 of 50 in the UK and Vandy losses.
“I kind of put in my head that I’m not letting us lose another lead,” said Johnson, who became the ninth LSU
player in history to surpass 1,800 career points. “We’ve been practicing situations where we have to value possessions. We messed up a bit, but we made plays.”
LSU never relinquished the lead after Johnson’s lane turnaround jumper gave LSU the Tigers a 9-7 edge with 5:34 left in the first quarter.
Tigers’ head coach Kim Mulkey made a conscious effort to use her bench earlier in games as she did in non-conference play. It paid off with reserves MiLaysia Fulwiley (18 points) and Zakiya Johnson and Amiya Joyner (12 points each) scoring in double figures.
Former Bossier City Parkway star Mikaylah Williams didn’t have impressive stats – 5 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists in 28 minutes – but the Tigers were plus 22 points with Williams on the floor.
“I was very proud of Mikaylah Williams,” Mulkey said. “She tried to lead, she tried to talk to them (her teammates), she tried to be the coach on the floor. I don’t look at her stats. I look at what she did on that floor for our team tonight.
“I don’t know what it is with this generation, but it’s like pulling teeth to want them to lead. I don’t know if they’re afraid to hurt feelings. I don’t know what it is, but they (Williams and Flau’jae Johnson) have got to lead us.
“They’re the most experienced players we have, and they’ve got to dig deep. They’ve got to lead us when they’re not playing good. We can only do so much on that bench over there. When it gets to game time, you’re the one on that floor, and you’ve got to be the one that takes us over that hump when it’s a tight game.”
Dani Carnegie led Georgia with 24 points. Trinity Turner added 11.
Georgia head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson felt her team hung tough, trailing just 56-48 entering the final quarter. But then. . .
“Flau’jae really picked it up,” Abrahamson-Henderson said. “And we took some quick, questionable shots. And this kind of team, LSU, goes whoosh downcourt.”
The Tigers host No. 2 Texas (18-0, 3-0 SEC) on Sunday at 2 p.m. The Longhorns, chosen by the league’s coaches to win the conference, destroyed Auburn 97-36 on Thursday night.
Texas, which was 35-4 overall and 15-1 in the SEC last season when it lost 74-57 to South Carolina in the NCAA Final Four semifinals, returns two starters.
One of those is junior forward Madison Booker (18.9 points, 7.3 rebounds), who was the SEC Player of the Year last season. The Longhorns’ key transfer portal pickup is Arizona transfer Breya Cunningham (10 points, 5.6 rebounds), a 6-4 junior forward who started 64 of 67 games for the Wildcats.
“I don’t know if I’ve seen a Texas team since the early ‘80s that has as many weapons as they do,” Mulkey said. “We can talk about Booker all we want, but Rory Harmon is having a great year. She is just a complete point guard. They’re big in the paint, and they’ve played a schedule that shows you just how good they are. We’ve got our hands full.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com