By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – If anybody knows a Kim Mulkey-coached women’s basketball team, it’s Alabama head coach Kristi Curry.
Mulkey and Curry grew up in small Louisiana towns, graduated from Louisiana Tech and Louisiana-Monroe respectively and served together for three seasons as Tech assistant coaches on Leon Barmore’s staff.
In seven seasons as Texas Tech’s head coach and the last five of her 13 years as the Crimson Tide coach, she’s had to face Mulkey’s Baylor and LSU juggernauts probably more than any coach in the nation.
She vividly described her 21st meeting on Sunday against Tigers’ head coach Mulkey – a 103-63 LSU blowout – as “like bringing a pocketknife to a bar fight.”
The 6th-ranked Tigers (21-2 overall, 7-2 SEC), winning their seventh straight game, handed No. 24 Alabama (19-4, 5-4 SEC) its worst loss of the year and tied as the third-worst SEC defeat in Tide history.
A Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd of 12,054 was alive and rocking, even with an 11 a.m. tipoff.
Mulkey, who’s now 19-2 vs. Curry, said she was worried beforehand about the early tipoff and the biting cold weather. Her fears quickly dissipated.
The Tigers played their finest defensive game of the season, moving together as if bound by an invisible string. Alabama was forced to attempt many shots with just a couple of seconds left on the shot clock.
“Our defense today was special,” Mulkey said. “You just wish you could bottle it up and play like that every game. Everything we did defensively affected what we did offensively.
“The post players took the challenge of having to guard on the perimeter, took away paint points and touches where they use the post up top. Our perimeter players communicated. I just thought everything flowed defensively.”
LSU tied its blocked shots season-high with 11. Four Tigers blocked multiple Tide attempts, led by Notre Dame sophomore transfer forward Kate Koval’s three rejections.
“Blocking shots is one of my favorite things to do,” said Koval, who flirted with a second straight double-double as she scored 8 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. “It brings so much energy. We get hyped for each other, so I feel like it’s contagious.
LSU’s final point total was remarkable because its three double-figure scorers combined for just 46 points. Sophomore guard Jada Richard had 16 and junior guard Mikaylah Williams and freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson had 15 points each.
All 11 Tigers who played scored, with eight scoring 8 or more points. Ten of 11 LSU players collected rebounds, led by Johnson’s 10 for her second double-double of the year.
“It’s toughness and it’s grit,” said Johnson, who had four offensive rebounds. “How much do you want the ball when it comes off the glass? It should be yours. That’s the mindset we’ve developed.”
LSU ended the first, second and third quarters with 7-2, 10-4 and 11-1 runs respectively, pushing the Tigers to leads of 21-15 at the end of the first quarter, 49-29 at halftime and 74-43 after three quarters.
Richard, who had 6 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists in the opening quarter, hit a 3-pointer and had an assist in the Tigers’ closing burst.
Williams scored 9 of LSU’s last 10 points in the final 2:07 of the second quarter to expand LSU’s cushion to 20 points at the half.
Also, Alabama couldn’t match LSU’s relentless inside play from reserves Johnson and Amiya Joyner. They combined for 18 points and 7 rebounds in the opening half.
The Tigers turned up the defense in the third quarter, blocking six of Alabama’s 19 field goal attempts, including the Crimson Tide’s last four shots in the period.
Sunday’s victory closed a three-game SEC homestand sweep for LSU, which also had wins over Florida (89-60) on Monday and Arkansas (92-70) on Thursday.
The Tigers’ next three of four games are against ranked teams, starting on Thursday at No. 4 Texas (21-2, 6-2) and at Auburn (13-9, 2-6) on Sunday. The Longhorns lost 70-65 at LSU on Jan. 11.
Also, No. 3 and SEC leader South Carolina (21-2, 7-1) visits the Tigers on Feb. 14 with ESPN’s College GameDay set to telecast. LSU also has a Feb. 19 game at No. 17 Ole Miss (18-4, 5-2), which beat No. 5 Vanderbilt (21-2, 7-2) on Friday.
“We’re still in the mix,” Mulkey said. “We got seven (regular season) games left. It’s fun to be in the mix. We don’t have to rely on anybody else winning or losing.
“Go win seven ball games and you might win your first SEC title. If you don’t win seven games, make sure when you walk off that floor the team that beat you played great and we did all we could do.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com
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