LSU women's basketball emerges victorious from tussle with Oklahoma for big SEC win

LSU women’s basketball emerges victorious from tussle with Oklahoma for big SEC win

Posted by author January 31, 2025 Basketball

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BATON ROUGE — Heavyweight bouts are constantly thrown out metaphorically describing matchups between two top teams.

The top-15 clash between No. 5 LSU women’s basketball and No. 13 Oklahoma crossed metaphorical lines into something that resembled a street fight inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday night.

A pair of early ejections plus a technical foul on Oklahoma coach Jennie Baranczyk and a flagrant intentional fouled called on Tigers sophomore center Aalyah Del Rosario on a high elbow that caught Sooner star forward Raegan Beers in the throat all happened in the first half and set the stage for the physical battle between the two squads.

LSU jumped out to a big lead but had to hang on late, edging the Sooners 107-100 to win its second straight Southeastern Conference game after losing at South Carolina last week.

Tigers coach Kim Mulkey was assessed a technical in the fourth quarter as her team’s lead slowly slipped away. But LSU’s sophomore sensation Mikaylah Williams shot her team to the victory in the late moments, knocking down a key eventual separating 3-pointer with 24 seconds to go.

LSU’s Sa’Myah Smith, Oklahoma’s Liz Scott ejected after shoving match early as tempers flare

In previous trips up and down the floor, the officials had allowed a healthy amount of beating and banging to go on without being called in the post. Morrow took a couple of shots from the Sooners as did Oklahoma forward Liz Scott.

With 4:10 remaining in the opening period, emotions boiled over as Sa’Myah Smith got tangled up with Oklahoma’s Beatrice Culliton under the basket battling for a rebound.

After the play, Smith shoved Culliton, who fell to the ground, and Sooner forward Liz Scott rushed over and pushed Smith back. LSU assistant coaches came off the bench to grab and get in front of Smith as her and Scott were quickly separated by their respective teammates.

Officials ejected both Smith and Scott for their involvement in the altercation, classifying it as a fight. Because of that, they both will have to sit out their respective teams’ next games. Smith will miss the Mississippi State tilt on Sunday afternoon.

Mikaylah Williams has big night, leads LSU to big lead

The final six minutes of the first half were when things flipped from being a tight game to the Tigers (22-1, 7-1 SEC) being on the road to a blowout victory over a quality Oklahoma squad.

Williams was the firestarter for LSU as she lit up the Sooners for 11 points during the stretch that helped her team push the lead out to 10 by halftime. LSU ultimately stretched the lead out to 24 points in the third quarter behind hot shooting from Williams and company.

Williams put together one of her better shooting nights of the season, going 12 of 20 from the field for 37 points. She hit 7 of 12 3-pointers.

Kim Mulkey, LSU weathers storm from Oklahoma in second half

With 4:13 left in the third quarter, LSU led the Sooners by 24 points, and it felt like the game was all but over.

Oklahoma had other plans. Led by a balanced offensive, swift attack, the Sooners scratched and clawed their way back into the game. Things started on the defensive end as they forced LSU into a slew of turnovers, five coming in the later stages of the third before another five in the early minutes of the fourth.

LSU’s turnovers led to 17 Oklahoma points.

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.