Tessa Johnson scored a season-high 21 points as No. 3 South Carolina beat No. 6 LSU 79-72 on Saturday night in Baton Rouge, La.
Johnson shot 4-of-5 from 3-point land to power the Gamecocks (25-2, 11-1 Southeastern Conference) to their sixth straight win. Raven Johnson scored a career-best 19 points for South Carolina and also tallied seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. Madina Okot added a double-double of 12 points and 17 boards, while Joyce Edwards chipped in 10 points.
In defeat, the Tigers (22-4, 8-4) were paced by Flau’jae Johnson’s 21 points and eight rebounds, while Mikaylah Williams added 11 points.
Facing her former team, LSU guard MiLaysia Fulwiley — who won a national championship with South Carolina two years ago — finished with just six points on 1-of-8 shooting. She also had four steals, four rebounds and three assists.
It was South Carolina’s 18th consecutive victory over LSU, and the win also made Gamecocks’ coach Dawn Staley the fourth in SEC history to win 500 games along with Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Georgia’s Andy Landers and Auburn’s Joe Ciampi.
LSU led by as many as six points in the first half, but Tessa Johnson scored 11 points in the second frame – sinking a trio of 3-pointers – to push the Gamecocks ahead by a single point at the break.
South Carolina then opened the third quarter with a 9-2 run, bookended by layups from Edwards. That gave the Gamecocks their largest lead of the game at eight points.
Flau’jae Johnson kept LSU in the game late, scoring seven points and grabbing four offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter. With about 45 seconds to play, she drew the call that fouled out Edwards for South Carolina and – trailing by just one point – went to the charity stripe with the chance to take the lead for the Tigers. But both of Johnson’s free-throw attempts were off the mark.
On South Carolina’s next possession, Raven Johnson killed some clock before driving inside and dishing to Okot, who sank a close-range shot to push the Gamecocks’ advantage to three points with 25 seconds to go.
On the next possession, Flau’jae Johnson missed a would-be game-tying 3-pointer for LSU. Okot hit two free throws and Raven Johnson flushed two more in the game’s final moments to seal the victory for South Carolina.
Prior to the start of the game, the selection committee for the women’s NCAA Tournament unveiled its projection of the top 16 seeds. South Carolina was slotted in as the third No. 1 seed, while LSU was the fourth No. 2 seed. Currently, six SEC teams are projected to host games during the opening weekend of March Madness, tied with the Big Ten for the most in the country.
–Field Level Media
