Flau'Jae Johnson scores 25 points and has 12 rebounds as No. 7 LSU holds off Tulane 85-74

BATON ROUGE, La. — Flau’Jae Johnson scored 25 points and had 12 rebounds, Aneesah Morrow had 23 points and 16 rebounds, and No. 7 LSU held off Tulane 85-74 on Wednesday night.

Jersey Wolfenbarger scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds off the bench for the Tigers (6-0).

Tulane (1-3) was led by Kyren Whittington who scored 20 of her 24 points in the second half, and Victoria Keenan who scored all 21 of her points in the second half.

Takeaways

Tulane: The Green Wave, who trailed by 23 points late in the third quarter, forced LSU to miss 14 of 17 shots in the fourth quarter when they outscored the Tigers 19-10. Tulane twice cut LSU’s lead to seven points in the final 3:03.

LSU: The Tigers have been looking for more experienced inside scoring than just Morrow. They may have found it with Wolfenbarger, the junior transfer from Arkansas where she basically was a face-up outside shooter. LSU head coach Kim Mulkey has moved Wolfenbarger inside to the post where she now has scored in double figures in three of four games.

Key moment

Mulkey signed four guards in the off-season to have enough bodies to press full-court defensively and score points in bunches off fast breaks. For instance, the Tigers scored nine straight points on fast-break layups and a free throw in a 75-second stretch of the third quarter to push the lead from 11 points to 20.

Key stat

Keenan, who came with first-year Tulane coach Ashley Langford this season from Stony Brook, hit 7 of 8 3s in the first half. She missed three 3-pointers in the second half after LSU’s Johnson was switched to guard her.

Up next

Tulane is home Sunday against Jackson State. LSU travels to Nassau, Bahamas to play in the Baha Mar Hoops Pink Flamingo championship where they open Monday against Washington.