BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Angel Reese had 23 points and 14 rebounds to extend her program-record streak of double-doubles to 22 games, and No. 3 LSU narrowly remained unbeaten with an 82-77 victory over Georgia in overtime Thursday night.
Alexis Morris highlighted her 15-point night with a 3 from the right 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 from there.
Diamond Battles scored 22 points for Georgia (15-9, 4-6), which had a chance to pull within a point when De’Mauri Flournoy was fouled behind the 3-point line with 8 seconds left. But Flournoy made just one free throw.
Morris rebounded Flournoy’s last miss and then hit two free throws for the final margin.
Reese grabbed 11 of her rebounds on the offensive end, helping LSU score 20 vital second-chance points.
Sa’Myah Smith and LaDazhia Williams each scored 10 points for LSU, which rallied from a nine-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Brittney Smith scored 13 points, Javyn Nicholson 12 and Alisha Lewis 11 for Georgia, which held the Tigers to their second-lowest regulation point total this season.
Georgia led 59-50 after Battles converted her steal of Flau’Jae Johnson’s pass into a fast-break layup with 7:53 left.
But the Tigers quickly cut it to 59-55 on Reese’s basket inside and Morris’ 3.
Reese hit four straight free throws over multiple possessions to pull LSU back into a tie at 63. After Battles’ free throws put Georgia back in front, Morris again tied it with a fast-break layup.
Smith and LSU’s Kater Poole each made one of two free throws, and regulation ended tied at 66 after both teams failed to score on their final possessions of the period.
The Lady Bulldogs never trailed by more than four points until the 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 up 55-48 after Battles’ fast break layup.
BIG PICTURE
Georgia: The Lady Bulldogs looked formidable defensively in recent 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 the 10th time this season, and for the seventh time in a reserve role.
LSU: This marked just the fourth time this season the Tigers were held below 70 points in regulation and the first time they were pushed to overtime. Georgia’s defense had a lot to do with that, but LSU missed a number of open shots. The Tigers’ 18 turnovers were relatively few against a Georgia squad that has forced 20 or more opponent turnovers in 15 games this season, but Georgia was efficient in scoring 21 points off turnovers.
UP NEXT
Georgia: Visits Vanderbilt on Sunday afternoon.
LSU: Visits Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon.
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AP women’s college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-college-basketball
