By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – For a head coach who loves defense and rebounding, the first half between No. 6 LSU and Tennessee Thursday night was painful for LSU’s Kim Mulkey.
The Tigers led 43-42, allowing the third-most first-half points scored against them by an SEC opponent this season. They got outrebounded 27-18, including 11 offensive rebounds by the Vols, resulting in 14 second-chance points.
“The first half was rec ball,” Mulkey said. “Both teams with nobody guarding anybody. I guess some people like that. But it settled down a little bit more in the second half.”
Leave it to stoic former Bossier City Parkway star Mikaylah Williams to steady the Tigers.
The multi-position junior recorded the second double-double of her college career, scoring 20 points all on mid-range jumpers and drives, and grabbing 10 rebounds in an 89-63 victory to lock up the fourth and final double-bye in next week’s SEC Tournament in Greenville, S.C.
If the favored teams win as expected on Wednesday and Thursday, LSU (25-4 overall, 11-4 SEC) will play Ole Miss in Friday’s quarterfinals at 1:30 p.m. CT. The winner moves to a Saturday semifinal at 3:30 p.m., likely against league regular-season champion South Carolina.
The Tigers finish the regular season on Sunday at Mississippi State (18-11, 5-10) at 3 p.m. The Bulldogs have a couple of quality league wins over Kentucky (which beat LSU in the Tigers’ SEC opener) and Tennessee.
The Vols (16-11, 8-7 SEC) stayed with the Tigers for the first half. Then Williams went to work in the third quarter when she had a hand in 14 of LSU’s 27 points (8 points, 3 assists) to extend the lead to 70-59 entering the fourth period.
“I thought the entire game was Mikaylah Wiliiams,” LSU associate head coach Bob Starkey said. “Even when we struggled in the first half, she was able to make some things happen.
“We played her quite a bit at the ‘4’ (power forward) today for the second game in a row. We’re asking her to do a lot of stuff, and it’s not affecting her in any way.”
Williams, who had no turnovers for just the second time this season, had plenty of scoring help.
Junior transfer guard MiLaysia Fulwiley had 18 points, 6 rebounds, 4 blocked shots and 2 steals. Freshmen Zakiya Johnson (14 points, 8 rebounds) and Grace Knox (13 points, 9 rebounds) combined for 27 points and 17 rebounds.
“I’m really hard on them (LSU’s five freshmen) for a lot of stuff,” said LSU guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who scored 10 points as one of three seniors being honored on Senior Night. “But they always rise to the occasion. They’re all really great players. I’m always telling them, `Y’all stay here for four years and y’all really could build something special.’”
Tennessee, which has lost four straight to the Tigers, presented a unique challenge because of second-year head coach Kim Caldwell’s frequent and massive substitutions.
She made 74 substitutions inserting 3 or more players 14 times including 5 players three times and 4 players five times.
The first half settled into a game of runs.
LSU, jumpstarted by two Fulwiley 3-pointers, scored 14 straight points in a 2:44 span of the second quarter and twice took 8-point leads.
In the last 1:49 of the first half, a 7-0 burst by the Vols, capped by Nya Robinson’s 3-pointer, gave Tennessee a 42-41 lead before Williams’ driving layup with four seconds left pushed the Tigers to a one-point edge at halftime.
As aggravated as Mulkey was about her team’s lack of rebounding, Caldwell was as happy about her squad physically outworking LSU.
“We were sharing the ball and doing a really good job on the offensive glass,” Caldwell said. “That’s where a lot of offense came from in the second half.
“Then we came out for the second half, they (the Tigers) really picked up their effort. They had 12 second-chance points in the second half.”
Mulkey’s halftime message to her team was simple.
“We weren’t very physical, and this doesn’t fit our idea of what we’re supposed to be doing,” Mulkey said. “I thought we became a little bit more physical rebounding, taking the ball off the dribble and getting to the paint.”
In the second half, LSU outrebounded Tennessee 27-16 for a 45-43 edge, shot 50 percent from the field to finish at 47.3 percent and committed just four turnovers after committing five in the first quarter.
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com