BATON ROUGE – LSU women’s basketball came into Sunday afternoon’s matchup averaging 14.5 turnovers per game.
Louisiana was short on the bench due to four players out due to various injuries, what UL coach Gary Broadhead has left played as inspired as they could. The Ragin’ Cajuns forced 17 first-half turnovers from the Tigers and muddy up the game for stretches.
While the game was never in questions for No. 4 LSU, ultimately defeating Louisiana, 85-57, but how it performed left plenty to the desired as the team enters the final nonconference portion where it won’t play at home against until Dec. 29 against Albany.
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LSU women’s basketball star Aneesah Morrow briefly leaves game vs Louisiana with injury
LSU star forward Aneesah Morrow went down with an apparent right knee injury in the first quarter Sunday.
Morrow drove baseline to the basket and went up for a contested layup of which heavy contact with made with UL’s Jasmine Matthews. They both spilled over onto the floor and Morrow immediately was in pain. A hush quickly fell over the crowd inside the PMAC.
She was taken back to the locker room to be evaluated and emerged just a few minutes later, sporting some taping around her knee and some tape around her first wrist and thumb. But she returned to the game wtih 1:33 left in the same period.
LSU doesn’t have a ton of depth along the inside with just Sa’Myah Smith, Jersey Wolfenbarger, who started alongside Morrow Sunday for her first start at LSU, senior Amani Bartlett and sophomore Aalyah Del Rosario.
One of the team’s “big 3” with stars Flau’jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams, Morrow is a major cog to what the Tigers have been doing so far this season. She came into Sunday’s game with nine double-doubles on the season, the best in women’s college basketball, and she added to that with 12 points and 12 rebounds against UL.
Kim Mulkey inserts Jersey Wolfenbarger into lineup for first time this season
With the addition of junior Jersey Wolfenbarger into the starting lineup, Kim Mulkey has rolled with five different starting five combinations through 12 games so far this season.
Sa’Myah Smith has started 10 of those games but Mulkey opted to go with Wolfenbarger, her first start at LSU, against Louisiana Sunday afternoon.
Wolfenbarger played well for the Tigers, scoring 12 of the team’s first 22 points. She finished the game with 18 points has impressed Mulkey in her first dozen games at LSU, which led to her starting and she showed how she’s incrementally gotten better as this season has progressed.
Ball security an issue for LSU women’s basketball vs Louisiana
As its offense tried and tried all day long to find a rhythm, LSU kept defeating its own pursuit with missteps and turnovers. Guards Last-Tear Poa, Kailyn Gilbert, Mjracle Sheppard and Jada Richard also struggled to come up with assists as well, finishing the game with a combined seven.
The 85 points LSU scored against UL was the third-fewest it has scored during the nonconference slate this season and the team relied heavily on its defense to spark the offense, which was able to score 20 points off Cajun turnovers.
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Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women’s basketball wins ugly game over Louisiana
