Carson, Reese lead No. 4 LSU women to 89-51 rout of Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- — Angel Reese delivered a record-breaking double-double and got plenty of offensive help from Jasmine Carson and others.

Carson scored 20 points and Reese had 14 points and 14 rebounds for her school-record 20th consecutive double-double to lead No. 4 LSU to an 89-51 victory over Alabama on Monday night.

The Tigers (20-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) had hours earlier dropped a spot in the rankings following their narrow 79-76 win over Arkansas. They swiftly returned to dominating another league opponent and extended the program’s longest winning streak to 20 games.

“We don’t discuss (rankings). I didn’t know we dropped in the polls until someone casually said it to me when we were walking to eat,” said LSU coach Kim Mulkey, who has reached 20 wins in each of her 23 seasons.

“Dropped in the polls? Undefeated? We’re just trying to win the next game.”

The Crimson Tide (15-5, 4-3) had a three-game win streak snapped and produced a season low in points.

Carson, a graduate transfer from West Virginia, made four first-half 3-pointers and fell one point short of her season high.

“Jasmine Carson really, really lit it up from the 3 and it just kind of snowballed from there,” Mulkey said.

Reese didn't need her typical big offensive night after racking up 30 points and 19 boards against the Razorbacks. But she surpassed Sylvia Fowles' previous school record of 19 double-doubles in a row set during the 2006-07 season.

“When you’re 20-0 and you break a record (of) one of the greatest all-time players ever not just at LSU but in the history of women’s basketball ... she's in wonderful company,” Mulkey said.

Alexis Morris had 17 points, made three 3-pointers and had seven assists for LSU. LaDazhia Williams had 17 points and 10 rebounds.

Brittany Davis led Alabama with 11 points, seven below her season average, on 5-of-15 shooting. Sarah Barker scored nine, but made just 4 of 15 shots.

“I thought we did a pretty decent job on Angel,” Tide coach Kristy Curry said. “It’s just what we preached to them all week long — you can’t let Carson, you can't let Williams, you can't let Morris do what they did to us.”

The Tigers began to take over late in the first quarter, starting an 18-0 run that bled into a sizzling second quarter. LSU outscored Alabama 28-7 in the second for a 47-18 halftime lead.

Reese hit a basket, drew a foul and converted a free throw. Then she grabbed the rebound on the other end and passed to Carson, who beat the buzzer for her fourth 3-pointer.

The shots weren't falling like that for Alabama.

"I’m not going to sit here like a lot of coaches do and say we just missed shots," Curry said. “Let's first of all credit LSU.

"Secondly, I thought that we did miss a couple of layups in the second that were uncontested. And we allowed that to affect us. We just allowed that to kind of domino on us.”

BIG PICTURE

LSU: Returned to form after the close call against Arkansas. The Tigers had won their first six SEC games by an average of 26.3 points.

Alabama: After holding Texas A&M to 46 points, the Tide couldn't stop LSU. Alabama made 19 of 65 shots (29.2%) and 5 of 27 3s (18.5%).

FOUL SHOTS

Alabama came in leading the SEC in free-throw percentage at 73.9%. The Tide went 8 of 14 from the line (57%). LSU made 13 of 18 (72%).

UP NEXT

Alabama visits Arkansas on Thursday night.

LSU visits Tennessee next Monday night.

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