Williams and Johnson help No. 7 LSU top Mississippi State 81-67

BATON ROGUE, La. -- — Mikaylah Williams scored 22 points to lift No. 7 LSU to an 81-67 victory over Mississippi State on Sunday.

Flau’Jae Johnson added 20 points, Aneesah Morrow added 18 points and 20 rebounds and Jersey Wolfenbarger had 12 points for the Tigers (23-1, 8-1 SEC).

The Bulldogs (16-7, 3-6), who beat LSU a year ago in a regular season game in Starkville, were led by Eniya Russell, who had 13 points. Destiny McPhaul and Quanirah Montague had 10 points each.

Takeaways

Mississippi State: The Bulldogs outscored the Tigers 20-16 in points in the paint in the first half. After MSU trailed by as many as 18 points with 4:48 left in the second quarter, LSU committed three turnovers and allowed six second-chance points as the Tigers’ lead dwindled to 41-35 at halftime.

LSU: Tigers’ starting center Sa’Myah Smith served her one-game suspension on Sunday after being tossed from Thursday’s win over Oklahoma after shoving OU’s Beatrice Culliton to the floor. Arkansas transfer Wolfenbarger, who had been coming off the bench in the Tigers’ last five SEC games, replaced Smith.

Key moment

The Tigers scored the first nine points of the game as the Bulldogs had five turnovers and missed their first five shots and never really could recover.

Key stat

After making 14 3-pointers combined in its previous SEC games, LSU had made 21 in its last two games. It followed Thursday’s 12 of 26 3-point marksmanship against Oklahoma by hitting 9 of 20 against Mississippi State.

Up next

On Thursday, LSU plays at Missouri while Mississippi State hosts Arkansas.

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