Morris’ career-high 31 lifts No, 3 LSU over Tennessee, 76-68

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU guard Alexis Morrisshowcased her speed, shooting touch and veteran savvy, punishingTennessee for its apparent preoccupation with dominant Tigers postplayer Angel Reese.

Morris scored a career-high 31 points, stirring a raucoussellout crowd with a series of clutch transition layups in thefourth quarter, and third-ranked LSU remained unbeaten with a 76-68victory over Tennessee on Monday night.

“I had to be the player to stay poised because I’m experienced.I’ve been here before,” Morris said. “I got my first few transitionbuckets and was like, ‘OK, this is pretty easy. I might as well useit to my advantage.’ And that’s what I did tonight, push it intransition and put the pressure on them.”

Reese had 18 points and 17 rebounds for her program-record 21ststraight double-double for LSU (21-0, 9-0 SEC). Reese’s highlightsincluded a transition layup while being fouled during a pivotal11-0 run after the Lady Vols had pulled as close as 53-52 in thefourth quarter.

Jordan Walker scored 19 points and Rickea Jackson added 17 forTennessee (16-8, 8-1), which has lost two straight, albeit to twotop-five teams (No. 5 UConn being the other).

Jordan Horston scored 11 for Tennessee, which nearly ralliedfrom a 14-point deficit in the second half before the Tigers’ finalsurge kept the Lady Vols at arm’s length in the finalminutes.

“It was competitive — got away from us there in the secondhalf,” Tennessee coach Kellie Harper said. “Obviously, AlexisMorris made some really, really tough shots and put up a lot ofpoints.”

Reese was held to just four points and four rebounds in thefirst half, when she was trying to avoid foul trouble. She rampedup her aggression after that.

“With her, it’s really difficult to keep her completely off theboards,” Harper said. “With her length and her strength, she justhas position early, and it’s really difficult because she has sucha knack for the ball.”

LSU led by as many as nine in the first half after Last-TearPoa’s 3 made it 32-23 late in the second quarter.

Tennessee closed to 34-31 after Jackson scored inside to openthe second half. But 3s by Jasmine Carson and Morris helped LSUstart to pull away again. Morris’ free throws ignited an 8-0 run,capped by Reese’s driving layup that made it 48-34 in the middle ofthe third quarter.

Tennessee went more than four minutes without scoring beforeJackson’s layup made it 48-36.

Tennessee then began defending the entire length of the court.That disrupted the Tigers, who did not hit a field goal for thelast 5:45 of the third, allowing Tennessee to pull to 50-47 onPuckett’s 3 in the final minute of the period.

The Vols were as close as 53-52 after Jackson’s free throw, butMorris responded with a driving leaner while being fouled for athree-point play. Soon after, Reese converted a steal into atransition layup as she was fouled. Morris then scored twice morein transition, sending the crowd, and LSU coach Kim Mulkey, into atriumphant frenzy.

“Everybody in the SEC picked Tennessee to finish ahead of us,”Mulkey noted. “If I’m a competitor, I take that as achallenge.”

FULL HOUSE

The crowd of 15,157 was the largest since a 2005 renovation ofthe Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Mulkey called the atmosphere in the arena “everything youngpeople need to experience in college.”

Added Reese, a Maryland transfer, “I’ve never been a part ofthis type of environment. ... To come to a school where theysupport women’s basketball, sometimes even more than the men, isamazing and you don’t see that very often.”

Harper said it was so loud at times that “it was reallydifficult to communicate with our team” while the ball was inplay.

“Sometimes,” Haper added, “it was hard to even communicate inthe huddle.”

BIG PICTURE

Tennessee: The Lady Vols continued to be a victim of theirdifficult schedule. They now have a half-dozen losses againstranked teams and most of those losing margins were single digits.... Tennessee shot 8 of 19 from 3-point range to keep the gameclose, but were outperformed inside in the second half.

LSU: Led for all but a few minutes and always had a response foreach Tennessee push. LSU outrebounded Tennessee 45-38, outscoredthe Lady Vols in the paint 38-30 and scored 23 points at the foulline to Tennessee’s six.

UP NEXT

Tennessee: Hosts Mississippi on Thursday.

LSU: Hosts Georgia on Thursday.