Baton Rouge — The 14th-ranked LSU women’s basketball team beat Mississippi College 88-35 in the first of two exhibition games Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
The Tigers will hold their final exhibition with the Langston Lady Lions next Thursday night at 7pm. The exhibition is free for fans to enter and will be streamed live on SEC Network+.
LSU officially kicks off the 2022-23 season on Monday, November 7 at 7:00 PM CT against Bellarmin at the PMAC.
Director Kim Malkey said, “We found out that we have a lot of talent. We already knew that.
Leading LSU by 22 points in his first outing as a Tiger was true freshman Flau’jae Johnson. Last-Tear Poa (transferred from JUCO) and his Jasmine Carson (transferred from WVU) also made an impact in their first appearances at LSU. Carson dropped 16 points to go 4-5 from the three-point line, Pore scored 14 points and led the team with 6 assists, while Ladazia Williams and Armani Bartlett scored his 9th inning and his 5th inning respectively. With eight rebounds, he led LSU.
“It felt great,” Carson said. “I have great teammates and a great coaching staff. It felt good to wear the jersey and meet the fans.
“I was focused on defense, defense, defense,” explained Johnson, who had two steals. “When I first came here, I said to Coach Malkey, ‘I want to be a scorer.’ She had to sit me down and ask, ‘Do you just want to be a one-hit wonder? It stuck with me. My focus has completely changed. After concentrating on defense, the attack came. I looked good and was focused on not turning the ball over. Everything came naturally because of the defense and I’m proud of that.”
Julian Kiya led the Choctose with 10 points and 4 rebounds. Mississippi outscored his LSU in the second quarter, but found no answer to the Tigers’ fast pace, turning the ball more than 24 times in total.
LSU controlled Grass on the night as Mississippi rebounded 52-33. The Tigers took advantage of Choctaw’s mistake to score 31 points in 25 turnovers. LSU dominated the post with 36 points in the paint. 36 points also came from off the bench. LSU began to piece it together as their defense dominated, finishing with 14 steals and nine blocks on the night.
The Tigers held the Choctaws to single digits in three of the four quarters, limiting them to 10 total points throughout the second half.
The Tigers started an 8-0 run to start the game. The run included an early three from Jasmine Carson and points from freshmen Frauje Johnson and Alisa Williams. LSU finished 1st A quarter with a tight 17-point lead.Tigers win first placest Half are shooting 47% from the field and 43% behind the arc. LSU led 38-25 at the half, with Johnson leading by nine points.
The Tigers defense strengthened early in the first half as LSU outscored Choctaw 24-4 with 3rd quarter. LSU finished the quarter with his 15-0 run. The PMAC exploded when Johnson knocked down a buzzer-beater from half court to finish third. In the 4th, the Tigers recorded an 83.3% shooting percentage and from deep position he shot 3-3. Carrying over from third to fourth, LSU went 24-0 and scored their biggest run of the night.
