BATON ROUGE — The LSU women’s basketball team opened up the 2024-25 season inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center with a convincing 95-44 victory over Eastern Kentucky.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
LSU scored first as Annesah Morrow hit a jumper but Eastern Kentucky with a three-pointer by Raphaela Toussaint. The Colonels’ lead was short-lived as moments later Morrow made a putback bucket. The Tigers followed that with an and-one by Flau’jae Johnson.
Johnson was starting to heat up as she would score 10 of the Tigers’ first 14 points, including nine straight. LSU kept Eastern Kentucky at bay as the Colonels didn’t score a point for the final 3:09 of the opening quarter. At the end of the first, LSU led 27-11.
LSU kept its foot on the gas in the second quarter and pushed its lead to 24 points after a pair of Johnson free throws with 2:36 left in the period. After back-to-back buckets cut the lead down to 20, the Tigers pushed back up to 24 with Mikaylah Williams hitting a pair of free throws and then a buzzer-beating jumper.
At the break, LSU led 48-24.
The Colonels were not a match for the Tigers as they were outscored 25-10 in the third quarter. Eastern Kentucky was more competitive in the final period but it didn’t matter as Kim Mulkey’s team cruised to an easy season-opening victory inside the PMAC.
BIG NUMBER: 7
The LSU Tigers had seven different players score in Monday night’s season opener, with four of them scoring in double figures. Sa’Myah Smith was one of those four as she scored 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. Smith tore her ACL seven games into the 2023-24 season.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: FLAU’JAE JOHNSON & ANEESAH MORROW
Johnson caught fire in the first quarter and never really slowed down as she led the Tigers with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting. Morrow meanwhile recorded a double-double as she had 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds.
UP NEXT: LSU (1-0) will return to action this Friday night when it welcomes Northwestern State. Tip inside the PMAC is set for 7 p.m.
