BATON ROUGE (AP) — Sophomore forward Sa’Myah Smith had 21 points and 11 rebounds, freshman guard Mikaylah Williams scored a career-high 20, and No. 1 LSU hammered Mississippi Valley State 109-47 on Sunday.
It was Smith’s third straight game for the Tigers (2-1) in which she tied or established a career high. William hit 5 of 6 3-pointers.
Returning first-team All-America forward Angel Reese had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Annesah Morrow contributed 14 points and Hailey Van Lith scored 11 for the defending national champion Tigers. They won their second straight game after being stunned in a season-opening 92-78 loss to No. 20 Colorado in last Monday’s Hall of Fame Series game in Las Vegas.
Guard Sh’Diamond McKnight led MVSU (0-2) with 21 points. No other MVSU player scored more than 4 points as LSU held the Devilettes to 24.3 percent from the field (17 of 70) while outrebounding them 59-33.
BIG PICTURE
LSU: LSU head coach Kim Mulkey used her third different starting five in the Tigers’ first three games. Sophomore Flau’jae Johnson, who had started all 38 games of her career, was ill. She was replaced in the lineup by junior Last Tear-Poa.
Mississippi Valley State: The Devilettes have an extremely ambitious non-conference schedule. They’ve already lost at Utah and LSU. They will face two-time national champ South Carolina on Nov. 24 and 2023 Sweet 16 participant Ole Miss on Dec. 12.
UP NEXT
LSU: The Tigers host Kent State on Tuesday.
Mississippi Valley State: The Huskies play at McNeese State on Thursday.
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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
