BATON ROUGE — LSU women’s basketball has a big three and it could be any of them that takes over the game at the opportune time.
In a tightly contested Southeastern Conference home bout with Vanderbilt on Monday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center where No. 4 LSU found itself trailing by three with 8:54 remaining, it was Flau’jae Johnson’s time.
Senior star forward Aneesah Morrow controlled the game in the first quarter, scoring 7 of her 23 points early. Sophomore sensation Mikaylah Williams exploded in the third for 11 points. She finished with 20.
But in the fourth, with the game on the line, Johnson assumed the front line and made key basket after basket, creating enough cushion for the Tigers to beat the Commodores 83-77.
LSU (19-0, 4-0 SEC) extends its winning streak to 19 games to open the 2024-25 season.
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LSU women’s basketball star Flau’jae Johnson takes over fourth quarter vs Vanderbilt
Two quick buckets allowed Vanderbilt to get out to a three-point lead over the Tigers early in the fourth.
Then Johnson, who had scored 14 points through three quarters, went on a tear, scoring seven over of the game’s next 11 points as she helped regain LSU the advantage.
LSU never led by more than four points the rest of the way, seeing its lead trimmed to 71-70 with 3:23 left. Johnson cut to the basket on two possessions in the final two minutes and her second made layup gave LSU a 77-72.
Johnson finished the game with 25 points on 10-of-21 shooting — she went 5 of 7 from the floor with 11 points in the fourth — to help guide the Tigers to the win.
Kim Mulkey still searching for consistency at the post position
Junior forward Sa’Myah Smith got the start for the Tigers against Vanderbilt. She hasn’t started the last seven games as junior Jersey Wolfenbarger got the nod in those games.
Wolfenbarger in that stretch had some good outings, scoring 18 on Louisiana and 11 on UAlbany but there were always games in which she grabbed a couple of boards and turned the ball over three times.
Mulkey mentioned as conference play got started that LSU would need some more consistency from the 5-spot. In the fourth quarter, Williams played some four
Against Vandy, Smith played 19 minutes and Wolfenbarger got 10 minutes. Smith managed four points, seven rebounds and four blocks while Wolfenbarger posted two points, five rebounds and one turnover. Smith impacted the Commodores on the defensive end, altering some shots and being a rim protector.
Aneesah Morrow makes history
She only needed 12 rebounds coming into Monday night’s game against Vanderbilt to become just the eighth player in women’s college basketball history with 2,500 career points and 1,500 career rebounds. Morrow grabbed her 12th rebound of the game in the fourth quarter, officially reaching the mark.
For the game, Morrow had 23 points and 15 rebounds.
Morrow surpassed the 2,500-point mark last time out at Tennessee.
She joins Courtney Paris (Oklahoma 2006-09), Wanda Ford (Drake, 1983-86), Patricia Hoskins (Mississippi Valley State, 186-89), Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford, 2011-14), Cheryl Miller (USC, 1983-86), Cheryl Taylor (Tennessee Tech, 1983-87) and Liz Kitley (Virginia Tech, 2019-24).
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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 survives Vanderbilt in SEC contest Monday
