By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – Playing the second of a three-game, seven-day homestand, No. 6 LSU’s starting lineup may have subconsciously thought Arkansas was the team it could coast past among this week’s trio of opponents.
The Razorbacks were dead last in the SEC, the only league team without a conference win. Six straight losses, all by double-digit margins.
Easy pickings, correct?
Yet not even halfway through the first quarter here Thursday night, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey benched her lollygagging starters after Arkansas made its first 6 of 9 shots (including three 3-pointers) and led 15-8.
What was Mulkey expecting from her second team?
“Something better than what I saw with the five that I had on the court,” Mulkey said.
Led by reserves ZaKiyah Johnson and Kate Koval, combining for 12 points in a 14-7 run, the Tigers’ bench evened the score at 22-22 by the end of the first quarter.
It wasn’t, though, until an 18-3 burst in the first 4½ minutes of the second half that the Tigers (20-2 overall, 6-2 SEC) were able to accelerate to a 92-70 victory for their sixth straight conference win.
“We know when we have slow starts, we have a bench that’s ready to come out and play with some intensity, just give us (the starters) the reset we need,” LSU junior guard and former Bossier City Parkway star Mikaylah Williams told SEC Network announcers afterward. “We don’t really care much about scoring. Whoever is on, whoever has the hot hand.”
Williams and Johnson each scored a team-high 17 points. The Tigers had six players in double figures, including Notre Dame sophomore transfer forward Kate Koval, who had 12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.
Yet no LSU player was made available for postgame interviews in the interview room by a slightly miffed Mulkey.
“I don’t know if anybody looks at that score and thinks either team played defense very well, right?” said Mulkey after her 900th game in 26 years as a Division 1 head coach, every season with 20 or more wins.
First-year Arkansas head coach Keisi Musick sounded happier in the postgame presser than Mulkey.
“In our last two outings, we’ve actually played more of a complete game,” said Musick, whose team fell to 11-11 overall and 0-7 in the SEC. “We played three quarters. I keep telling them (her players) when we play four whole quarters, we’re going to get that first win and have the breakthrough we need. My team is fighting. They’re giving me max effort.”
Arkansas senior guard Taleyah Jones, a transfer who followed Musick from her previous job at Oral Roberts, said the Razorbacks believed they could spring the upset.
“That was our goal,” said Jones, who scored a game-high 21 points, including 5 of 11 3-pointers. “We were hyped in the locker room beforehand. And when we were down (just) three at halftime (33-30), we were happy and wanted to continue the momentum in the second half.”
After misfiring on 15 of 22 layups in the first half, LSU opened the third quarter by swishing its first 6 of 8 shots, including 3 of 3 3-pointers for a 54-36 lead.
It was the only time the Tigers truly caught fire. The rest of the night was a few sparks here and there.
Freshman forward Johnson had 6 of her game-total 11 points in the first quarter, including her first college 3-pointer. Williams, after going 0 for 3 in a scoreless first quarter, hit 4 of 6 shots and scored 8 of LSU’s 14 second-quarter points. Flau’jae Johnson, scoreless in the first half, scored 11 in the third quarter and joined Koval and Grace Knox with 6 apiece in the fourth period.
Following a frigid first half shooting 35.4 percent (17 of 48) from the field, the Tigers hit 59.5 percent (22 of 37) in the second half to finish at 45.9 percent (39 of 85).
“Our confidence should never waver,” Williams said. “We take shots day in and day out. Flau’jae always tells me the numbers are going to eventually level out.”
The Tigers close their longest SEC homestand of the season Sunday at 11 a.m. against No. 24 Alabama. The Crimson Tide (19-3 overall, 5-3 SEC) won at No. 23 Georgia 68-53 on Thursday night.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
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