BATON ROUGE - The NCAA Tournament run for LSU could not have gotten off to a hotter start for the LSU Tigers in their opening round game against Jacksonville on Friday evening at the Maravich Center.
The Tigers continued that hot play all the way through the end of the contest to dominate the Dolphins 116-58.
The 116 points in a game sets an LSU NCAA record for points in a tournament game.
LSU was led in scoring by Flau'jae Johnson with 20 points and had seven players score in double-digits against Jacksonville.
Mikaylah Williams added 18 points, Jada Richard with 17 points and freshman ZaKiyaha Johnson poured in 16.
LSU jumped out to a 14-0 lead on the Dolphins and set a NCAA record for points in a quarter as they started the game with a 34-14 opening frame of action.
The Tigers led 64-36 at the half well on their way to breaking their season average of points in a game which is around 95 points a game.
LSU will face Texas Tech on Sunday in the NCAA Second Round game in a time to be determined.
Texas Tech beat Villanova 57-52 in the other first round game in Baton Rouge.
More information can be found in the school news release below:
In LSU women’s basketball’s first round matchup against Jacksonville, the No. 2 seed Tigers established scoring records and defeated the No. 15 Dolphins, 116-58, Friday night inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
With the victory, LSU improved to 28-5 on the season and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional against the Texas Tech-Villanova winner on Sunday. Tip times for Sunday’s matchup will be announced following the conclusion of Friday’s games. With the loss, Jacksonville dropped to 24-9 on the season and its season came to a close.
Coach Kim Mulkey’s record in NCAA Tournament games at home improved to 25-2, while LSU’s home record in the NCAA Tournament moved to 26-4. Mulkey has led LSU to five straight seasons as a host site, which is the most in succession for the program. With Mulkey at the helm in national tournament games at home, LSU is 8-1.
Mulkey picked up her 150th win at LSU with the victory over Jacksonville becoming the fastest head coach in LSU history to 150 wins. Mulkey did so in 175 games coached. The legendary Sue Gunter accomplished the feat in 209 games.
LSU had seven players with 10-plus points, tying an NCAA Tournament record for double-digit scorers in a game. It also tied an NCAA Tournament record with eight players scoring nine-plus points. The LSU players in double digits included senior Flau’jae Johnson (20), junior Mikaylah Williams (18), sophomore Jada Richard (17), freshman ZaKiyah Johnson (16), junior MiLaysia Fulwiley (13), sophomore Kate Koval (11) and freshman Grace Knox (11).
“The offense is not surprising,” Mulkey said. “We've seen that all year. I've said it so many times, I feel like I'm a recorder. We can score the ball. We just have to keep committing to things defensively when you play the great teams that are as good as you or better than you, and we've got to make sure that we force turnovers. We've got to make sure the defensive help is there.”
