2023-11-26 00:11:44
GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands — The No. 7 LSU women’s basketball team won its second game of the Cayman Island Classic as it took down Virginia, 76-73, in a four quarter battle at the John Gray Gymnasium Saturday afternoon.
Aneesah Morrow led all scorers as she tied her career-high with 37 points. The transfer added 16 rebounds to record her second straight double-double in the Cayman Islands. Her game-changing performance marked the second-straight game to reach 20-points with the Tigers as she went 15-23 from the field.
Hailey Van Lith followed with 12 points on 4-12 from the field and a three-pointer. The transfer shared a team high 5 assists with fellow point guard Last Tear Poa. Poa finished with 8 points.
Flau’Jae Johnson had a season high 15 rebounds as she spent 39 minutes on the court. The Sophomore went 4-5 from the free throw line while adding a block, a steal, and a pair of assists.
Virginia’s Paris Clark and Yonta Vaughn both came off the bench to help lead the Cavaliers with 19 and 13, respectively. Clark was 7-17 from the field while Vaughn made 3 three-pointers and led her squad in assists with 7.
Sam Brunelle scored 15 as she scored all her points from beyond the arc with going 5-10. Brunelle added 3 rebounds and 3 blocks in her 32 minutes of action.
Del Rosario scored the first points of the game as she made the starting lineup for the first time in her career in place of the injured Sa’Myah Smith. After Virginia tied things up at six Morrow regained the lead on an inside lay up off an inside assist from Johnson. The Cavaliers then went on a 6-0 run to take a 12-8 lead before the first media timeout. Following the break Van Lith nailed a corner three to put LSU back within one with four minutes remaining in the first. LSU traded buckets in the final minutes to end a competitive opening quarter with a 21-18 lead.
Clark hit a deep three from the top of the key to knot things up at 21 twelve seconds into the second quarter. Virginia outscored LSU through the first three minutes of the quarter 8-4 as it connected on two threes in the first two minutes. Vaugh hit back-to-back threes to give the Cavaliers a two point lead with four to go before the break. Poa assisted Morrow as she scored to make it 36-36 and bring her point total to 20 with just under three minutes before the half. Despite finishing 1-5 of its last 5 field goals the Tigers held UVA scoreless for the final 2:29 of the half. Both teams were tied at 38 heading into the break.
The opening twenty minutes saw 10 ties and nine lead changes with neither team gaining a lead larger than four. 14 of Virginia’s points came off the bench. Aside from Morrow with 20 and Van Lith with 12, no other LSU player had more than two points in the first two quarters of action. Virginia’s Clark came off the bench to lead her squad with 15 points and account for 3 of 4 UVA steals.
The battle picked right back up where it left off as the third quarter started with LSU scoring six and Virginia scoring 5 all within the first three minutes of action. The Tigers held a 3-point lead at the media timeout after holding the Cavaliers scoreless for nearly two minutes. LSU’s Johnson blocked UVA’s Johnson three-point attempt that led to a Morrow put-back on the other end to take a 5-point lead, the largest of the night. The Tigers kept a slim lead of two as they went into the final quarter up 58-56.
LSU held the Cavaliers scoreless for the first two minutes of the quarter as it extended its lead to five points once again. Van Lith exited the game after an awkward fall and UVA three to put themselves a bucket away from the lead. LSU responded well as Poa earned her fifth assist of the night on an inside pass to Del Rosario. The Tigers forced a Cavs timeout after a 6-0 run put LSU up by eight. LSU went scoreless over a two minute span as UVA made it a 3-point game with a minute left in regulation. Jillian Brown went 1-2 from the foul line to make it 71-73 with under a minute to play. Morrow was fouled with two seconds to go and she went 2-2 from the charity stripe to lock up the win despite UVA making two more after.
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