Reese rescues No. 3 LSU in 82-77 OT win over Georgia

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Reese showedlittle interest in celebrating after extending her LSU-recorddouble-double streak to help the third-ranked Tigers maintain theirunblemished record.

She wasn’t all that pleased with how she or her team played.

Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her streak ofdouble-doubles to 22 games, and No. 3 LSU narrowly remainedunbeaten with an 82-77 victory over Georgia in overtime Thursdaynight.

“Honestly, it’s a wake-up call,” Reese said. “We beat Tennessee(on Monday) and then we came into Georgia thinking they were goingto lay down.

“They didn’t lay down,” Reese continued. “We’re definitely thehunted and I think they did a great job scouting us, they did agreat job playing against us.”

Alexis Morris highlighted her 15-point night with a 3 from theright corner in the final minute of the extra period to give LSU(22-0, 10-0 SEC) a 77-74 lead, and the Tigers held on fromthere.

“Lex has hit a few of those big shots this year,” LSU coach KimMulkey said. “It was big.”

Morris was coming off a career-high 31 points against Tennessee,but didn’t score in the first half against Georgia. She hit one 3in the third quarter and scored 12 of her points in the fourthperiod and overtime.

“I was clutch when I needed to be,” Morris said. “Of course,it’s frustrating because everybody’s expecting me to have another30-ball right? But I showed up in a way I needed to.”

Diamond Battles scored 22 points for Georgia (15-9, 4-6), whichhad a chance to pull within a point when De’Mauri Flournoy wasfouled behind the 3-point line with 8 seconds left. But Flournoymade just one free throw.

Morris rebounded Flournoy’s last miss and then hit two freethrows for the final margin.

Reese grabbed 11 of her rebounds on the offensive end, helpingLSU score 20 vital second-chance points.

“We didn’t shoot well tonight, so I just tried to get as manyrebounds as I could get to get second-chance opportunities,” saidReese, whose point total could have been higher had she not missedsix of her 15 free throws.

Sa’Myah Smith and LaDazhia Williams each scored 10 points forLSU, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourthquarter.

Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Javyn Nicholson 12 and AlishaLewis 11 for Georgia, which held the Tigers to their second-lowestregulation point total this season.

The Lady Bulldogs “fought, they stayed together, they stayedfocused, they stuck to the game plan,” Georgia coach KatieAbrahamson-Henderson said. “Maybe the only thing we didn’t doreally well is box out.”

Georgia led 59-50 after Battles converted her steal of Flau’JaeJohnson’s pass into a fast-break layup with 7:53 left.

But the Tigers quickly cut it to 59-55 on Reese’s basket insideand Morris’ 3.

Reese hit four straight free throws over multiple possessions topull LSU back into a tie at 63. After Battles’ free throws putGeorgia back in front, Morris again tied it with a fast-breaklayup.

Smith and LSU’s Kateri Poole each made one of two free throws,and regulation ended tied at 66 after both teams failed to score ontheir final possessions of the period.

The Lady Bulldogs never trailed by more than four points untilthe final seconds of overtime. LSU held a 30-29 lead at halftime,but Georgia led for the last 5:07 of the third quarter, going up55-48 after Battles’ fast-break layup.

“We can’t get lax,” Reese said. “Just getting back in the gymand being able to get better, I think that’s going to be importantfor us.”

BIG PICTURE

Georgia: The Lady Bulldogs looked formidable defensively inrecent victories over Missouri (62-51) and Mississippi State(62-34) and maintained that form at LSU, holding the Tigers to 36%shooting (24 of 67). Nicholson scored at least 10 points for the10th time this season, and for the seventh time in a reserverole.

LSU: This marked just the fourth time this season the Tigerswere held below 70 points in regulation and the first time theywere pushed to overtime. Georgia’s defense had a lot to do withthat, but LSU missed a number of open shots. The Tigers’ 18turnovers were relatively few against a Georgia squad that hasforced 20 or more opponent turnovers in 15 games this season, butGeorgia was efficient in scoring 21 points off turnovers. LSUoutscored Georgia at the foul line 28-15.

UP NEXT

Georgia: Visits Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon.

LSU: Visits Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon.