Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow lead No. 7 LSU over Northwestern St. 81-36

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Reese scored 25 points and 14 rebounds, Aneesah Morrow had 16 points and 14 rebounds and No. 7 LSU slogged its way to an 81-36 victory over Northwestern St. on Sunday.

It was the 11th straight win for the Tigers (11-1) after the defending national champions lost their season opener to then-No. 20 Colorado on Nov. 6. Northwestern St. dropped to 4-6.

Reese earned her third consecutive 20-point performance in the last four games since she returned from a four-game suspension imposed by LSU coach Kim Mulkey.

“Having teammates around me that encourage me and we encourage each other, it makes us unstoppable,” Reese said. “They can’t guard all of us."

Morrow, a junior transfer from DePaul who refers to herself as a “double-double machine,” had her fifth consecutive game with a double-double.

Mikaylah Williams finished with 14 points, despite missing her first eight field goal attempts. Flau’jae Johnson added 13 points, five steals and five assists.

Sharna Ayres led Northwestern St. with 10 points.

Mulkey was ejected from the game by referee Timothy Greene with 4:56 left and LSU leading by 39 points. She was given two technical fouls for protesting a charging foul call against Morrow.

“He (Greene) did the right thing,” said Mulkey, who got in Greene’s face and wouldn’t back away. “I think I helped him. I said, 'I’m not leaving you. You better toss me.’ He had no choice. I appreciate officials that know what you’re trying to do out there. I don’t appreciate bad calls, but that’s part of coaching.”

LSU sprinted to a 13-0 lead in the game’s first four minutes, earning a 19-6 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

The Tigers led 34-15 at halftime and outscored the Lady Demons 24-2 in the paint.

Northwestern St. cut LSU’s lead to 36-21 with 7:45 left in the third period. The Tigers responded with a 24-5 run to close the third period leading 60-26.

If the visiting Lady Demons can claim any measure of success in a 45-point loss, it’s they made LSU look disjointed. While the Tigers dominated in many areas — 22-0 in second-chance points, 22-2 in fast break points, 52-6 in points in the paint and 30-9 points off turnovers — LSU still looked far from smooth.

“We had a game plan and we wanted to slow a tremendously fast team down,” Northwestern St. coach Anna Nimz said. “We wanted to make it an ugly game, and I would think the crowd said we made it kind of ugly.”

BIG PICTURE

LSU: The Tigers’ next game at Coppin St. on Wednesday is LSU’s only out-of-state nonconference true road game this season. LSU scheduled Coppin St. so Reese can play a game in her hometown of Baltimore.

“It’s going to be a surreal moment,” said Reese, who transferred to LSU last season from the University of Maryland. “Going home and being able to play in front of my grandparents and lot of people who have supported me in my career is something that I’m always going to remember.”

Northwestern St.: LSU is the third and final Power Five Conference school on the Demons’ 11-game nonconference schedule. Northwestern St. opened this season with losses at Nebraska (90-42) and Kansas (88-46).

UP NEXT

LSU: At Coppin St. on Wednesday

Northwestern St.: At Central Arkansas on Wednesday.

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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-womens-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball