Reese, Morrow lead No. 10 LSU to 78-58 bounce-back win over Alabama

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Third quarter surge sends No. 10 LSU past Alabama

The Tigers outscore the Tide, 26-10, in the third quarter as Angel Reese leads the way with another double-double (22 points, 17 rebounds) in the 78-58 road victory.

Jan 19, 2024, 05:15 am

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- — Angel Reese had 20 points and 17 rebounds, Aneesah Morrow had 20 points and 11 boards, and No. 10 LSU rode a dominant third quarter to a 78-58 victory over Alabama on Thursday night.

Reese and Morrow scored eight points apiece in the third, when the Tigers (17-2, 4-1 Southeastern Conference) outscored the Crimson Tide (15-5, 2-3) 26-10.

LSU, which trailed by a point at halftime, bounced back from a 67-62 loss a few hours' drive away at Auburn that snapped a 16-game winning streak.

“I told them in the locker room, when you come off a loss and you've got to turn around and you go back on the road, those are hard games to win,” Tigers coach Kim Mulkey said. “Because you don't know the psyche of your team. You don't know if they're confident right now, or if they're just kind of feeling insecure about themselves.

“You learn a lot about your team, and I learned a lot tonight.”

Reese and Morrow helped the Tigers avoid another letdown in Alabama. Reese scored 13 points in the second half after she picked up two fouls and only played 10 minutes in the first. Morrow also scored 13 after the break while topping 1,000 career rebounds.

It was the ninth time this season LSU has had multiple players with double-doubles.

Aaliyah Nye scored all of her 18 points in the first half to lead Alabama, making 4 of 8 3-pointers.

“If she didn't have (18) points, it wouldn't have been close,” LSU's Flau'jae Johnson said. “I kind of took that personal and was like, she's not scoring again. And she didn't score again.”

Loyal McQueen added 15 points. Crimson Tide leading scorer Sarah Ashlee Barker fouled out with eight points, half her season average.

Mikaylah Williams finished with 14 points for LSU while Johnson added 11.

LSU out-rebounded Alabama 53-37.

“Coming off a tough loss for us and a poor performance for our team, that was a great win for us from a team standpoint,” LSU guard Hailey Van Lith said. “That was about us. That was about us proving who we are and what we can do.

“That was a get-back game for us, and I think we accomplished that.”

Alabama scored the final eight points of the first half to take a 35-34 lead. Nye made two of three free throws with 2 seconds left.

“As good as our first half, our second half was even worse, the opposite direction,” Alabama coach Kristy Curry said. “We have to learn how to put four quarters together.

“They dominated the paint and dominated the glass in the third and we weren't able to recover from it.”

The Tigers continued their trend of strong third quarters, when they came in having outscored opponents by an average of 13.9 points.

BIG PICTURE

LSU: The Tigers were 0 of 2 from 3-point range in Sunday’s loss to Auburn. Johnson ended that drought less than two minutes into the game, but LSU missed its next six and finished 4 of 14 (28.6%).

Alabama: Committed 19 turnovers. Shot 15 of 52 (28.8%) and has dropped its first three SEC home games.

UP NEXT

LSU hosts Arkansas on Sunday.

Alabama visits Auburn on Sunday.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball