Tigers Advance to Round of 32

Behind Angel Reese’s historic game, LSU beats Hawaii 73-50

Angel Reese added another piece of history to her already spectacular 2022-2023 season Friday afternoon in the PMAC.

In LSU’s NCAA Tournament opening 73-50 win over Hawaii, Reese put up 34 points and 15 rebounds making her the first women’s SEC hoops player to have a statline like that this century. Her 34 points also tied Marie Ferdinand for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.

“Just doing whatever it takes to win,” Reese said. “Hawaii is a really great team, and we couldn’t go back and forth shooting the three. They are a really good three-point shooting team, just guarding perimeter. Offensively we had the advantage inside, so just trying to get inside as much as we could.”

Don’t let the 23-point margin of victory fool you: Hawaii played the Tigers tough. Hawaii had a pair of small leads in the first quarter (3-0 and 5-4) and LSU couldn’t really pull away until the fourth quarter.

LSU exploited the advantage they had inside, much like they’ve done to just about every team they’ve played this season. LSU had 44 points in the paint and got 17 second chance points.

While Reese was dominant, the supporting cast left a little to be desired. Flau’jae Johnson did a little bit of everything with 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists, but no other Tiger had double-digit points. LaDazhia Williams came close with 9 points, while Alexis Morris struggled mightily from the floor shooting 3-10.

But it’s March and style points don’t matter nearly as much as the end result and the important thing here is LSU’s moving on to the second round. LSU will play Michigan Sunday. Tipoff time and what channel the game will be on has yet to be announced.