BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Reese had a season-high 36 points and 20 rebounds, carrying No. 5 LSU to a gritty 69-60 victory over Mississippi on Thursday night.
Reese, who reached double-digit points and rebounds for the 24th time this season, was the only player for LSU (24-1, 12-1 SEC) to score with any regularity against Ole Miss (20-6, 9-4), which came in ranked 18th nationally in scoring defense.
But when LSU missed, Reese was in the paint fighting for eight offensive rebounds and often converted those into put-backs off the glass. LSU had 22 second-chance points, 16 scored by the 6-foot-3 Reese. She also hit 12 of 14 foul shots.
Angel Baker scored 21 and Madison Scott added 13 for Ole Miss, which only briefly led by one point in the first quarter, but which tied the game at 34 on Baker’s jumper in the third quarter.
Alexis Morris scored 15 for LSU, but had an off night shooting, hitting just three of 18 shots. Still, her clutch jumper gave LSU a 63-56 lead with 1:50 left. She made nine of 10 free throws, including four in the final 33 seconds to seal the victory.
Morris, who normally shoots close to 46% from the field and averages nearly 16 points, missed nine of her first 10 shots. But Reese scored half of LSU’s 30 first-half points to keep the Tigers in front most of the way.
The Tigers never led by more than eight in the opening two quarters and Mississippi scored the final six points of the second period, capped by Baker’s layup, to pull to 30-28 at halftime.
BIG PICTURE
Mississippi: Ole Miss has been one of the top defensive teams in the SEC, allowing 54.7 point per game coming in. It showed against LSU, which finished well below its scoring average of 85.8 points. The Rebels will have to win all three of their remaining regular-season games to reach 23 regular-season victories for the first time in program history. And that would mean beating No. 1 and undefeated South Carolina.
LSU: The Tigers won their 10th straight against Ole Miss, which hasn’t beaten the Tigers since 2015 in Oxford. LSU improved to 41-22 all-time against the Rebels. LSU is now 50-7 since Kim Mulkey took over as coach for the 2021-22 season. Meanwhile, Reese needs just three more double-doubles to tie Sylvia Fowles’ program record of 27, set in the 2006-07 season.
UP NEXT
Mississippi: Hosts South Carolina on Sunday.
LSU: At Florida on Sunday.
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