With how LSU women’s basketball has looked and played leading into the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase, Seton Hall presented a concerning matchup for Kim Mulkey‘s group.
But early on, it seemed the No. 3 Tigers had smoothed over their turnover issues and lapses on both ends of the floor in Uncasville, Connecticut. LSU ran like a well-oiled machine, valuing ball security and cleaning up sequences when they got murky to take down the Pirates 91-64 inside the Mohegan Sun Arena on Tuesday night.
The Tigers (13-0) swiped the ball more than Seton Hall, who came into the game leading the Big East in steals, which was good enough for 12th in the country.
LSU’s clean play allowed it to outscore Seton Hall 69-49 after three quarters.
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LSU women’s basketball’s ‘Big 3’ each takeover game at different times, showing team’s strength
LSU built a 52-25 lead by halftime and its Big 3 were the reason why.
Senior forward Aneesah Morrow tallied her 11th double-double on the season by halfway through the second period, dominating Seton Hall inside on both ends. She made two 3s against Seton Hall. She had just one made 3-pointer coming into the game and ended with 21 points and 16 rebounds.
The Pirates attempted a sunken 2-3 zone and sophomore Mikaylah Williams shot them out of it, knocking down five 3s en route to 17 first-half points. Junior star guard Flau’jae Johnson took over the game at a couple of points, hitting jump shots and finishing drives to the rim stemming from steals and good defense.
Johnson, Morrow and Williams combined for 63 points of LSU’s 91 points.
There has been plenty of inconsistency from LSU through its first dozen games but how effortlessly and fluid each of LSU’s best three stars can take control of games shows why it will be a tough out come March.
Mikaylah Williams goes off with 3-ball
In the second quarter, Williams scored nine straight points for the Tigers off three straight 3s.
The Pirates tried the shrink the game and take LSU out of its offense by going to the zone defense late in the first quarter. The switch initially worked as Mulkey and her players worked through how to loosen Seton Hall up.
Williams was the release as she began to pile up 3-pointer after 3-pointer. She ended up with six 3s, a career high that topped the season-high she had piloting LSU’s comeback victory over Stanford a couple of weeks ago.
She had 22 points, five rebounds and five assists, putting together another solid overall performance for LSU.
Kim Mulkey’s Tigers best Seton Hall at its own game
One of LSU’s main priorities against the Pirates was going to be taking care of the basketball. It passed that test with flying colors, having just 13 turnovers while forcing 15 from Seton Hall.
Not only did the Tigers limit their miscues but they capitalized off of Seton Hall’s turnovers as well. LSU had 19 points off SHU turnovers while having eight steals to the Pirates’ six.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women’s basketball outpaces Seton Hall for 13th straight win
