GREENVILLE, S.C. — The LSU women’s basketball team was battling with Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals on Friday. Things were relatively close halfway through the third quarter.
Then the No. 4 seeded Tigers rode a second-half avalanche of scoring into an 112-77 win and a rematch with South Carolina in the semifinals.
LSU has never in program history scored more points in the SEC Tournament than it did on Friday. They shot 53% from the field and 13 of 24 from beyond the arc. MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 22 points, while Flau’jae Johnson added 21, becoming the sixth Tiger to eclipse 2,000 career points.
Those two star guards did most of their damage across the third and fourth quarters – the stretch of the game in which LSU bludgeoned the Sooners with 3-pointers and transition layups. The Tigers’ 13 3-pointers are a season high.
When LSU and Oklahoma last met in January, the Tigers coasted to a clear, decisive 19-point road win. Star senior forward Raegan Beers battled foul trouble throughout the game, while star freshman guard Aaliyah Chavez missed 11 of the 14 shots she took.
Beers ran into foul trouble again early in the second quarter of Friday’s matchup, and the Sooners struggled to score when she was watching from the bench. Overall, they shot only 36% from the field, and they missed 16 of the 21 3-pointers they took. The Tigers’ offense simply ran more smoothly, giving them open looks both inside and outside the 3-point arc.
Mikaylah Williams scored 14 points. Sophomore point guard Jada Richard chipped in 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Senior forward Amiya Joyner tallied seven points, five rebounds and two steals.
Beers tallied only six points in 23 minutes. Chavez chipped in 20 points after shooting 6 of 15 from the field.
LSU played sharp offense in the first quarter but ran into some turnover issues in the second. The Tigers gave away nine possessions in that frame, giving Oklahoma a chance to trim the nine-point deficit it faced by the end of the first quarter.
The Sooners, though, couldn’t score anywhere besides the free-throw line. They shot just 4 of 17 from the field in the second, missing all three shots they took from beyond the arc.
Oklahoma started to heat up in the third, but LSU found an answer for most of the shots it hit. Richard drained four of the five field goals she took in that frame, while also playing disruptive defense against Chavez at the other end.
The Tigers ended the third on a 17-3 run, then took a 23-point lead into the fourth. In the second half, they shot 52% from the field and 8 of 15 from beyond the arc.
Williams and Johnson have been teammates for three years, but before Friday, they had played only one SEC Tournament game together. A pair of minor, lingering injuries had gotten in the way before, but they didn’t this year. The two stars played 27 and 32 minutes against Oklahoma, respectively.
LSU next will face South Carolina in the semifinals at 3 p.m. Saturday. The No. 1 seed Gamecocks, who have won eight of the last 10 SEC Tournaments, routed No. 9 seed Kentucky 87-64 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This story will be updated.
