LSU women’s basketball pulled off another thrilling win on Thursday night, beating Stanford 94-88 in overtime. That’s becoming a theme for the Tigers who continue to flirt with fire, but continue to stack wins.
Kim Mulkey’s group is 10-0 on the year now with a couple of impressive victories.
Down five with 18 seconds left, LSU guard Kaylin Gilbert hoisted a three to cut the deficit to two. Moments later, Flau’Jae Johnson forced a turnover. Mikaylah Williams took it from there, hitting a fadeaway jumper from the free-throw line to tie it at 80.
In OT, Williams got the scoring started with a three, and from there, LSU outlasted Stanford for the win.
Williams finished with a season-high 32 points. The sophomore is emerging as a star for LSU in the backcourt.
Conference play is fast approaching and LSU should be able to handle business until then.
Here’s what Kim Mulkey said after the win.
Fans leaving early
Mikaylah Williams was asked if she noticed fans leaving early, but Mulkey interjected with her thoughts.
“I did, and I took names. I won’t see them in church on Sunday because I’ll be gone, but I’ll catch them next Sunday. I saw it. Sure did. We were down, I think, seven with about a minute and something to go. Some of them turned back around,” Mulkey said.
The intensity of the huddle
“The thing about this game is we are intense in there,” Mulkey said, “You don’t take anything personal. These kids belong to me and I belong to them.”
“We chose each other and I’m not the only one that gets up and challenges them. I could never imagine being a passive coach. I could never imagine playing for a passive coach, because I tend to think kids are a reflection of the coaching staff. And we’re not going to give up on them.”
The final play of regulation
“What I drew up wasn’t exactly for Mikaylah. It just didn’t pan out. But it was to get it in Mikaylah’s hands, but it was for KG coming off real quick because I wasn’t going for three right there, I was going for the tie,” Mulkey said.
If Williams couldn’t get the ball to Gilbert, Mulkey told Williams to use a screen from Anneesah Morrow to get a shot off.
“She didn’t even have to use the screen. And that’s what happened,” Mulkey said.
The smaller lineup
“I didn’t like it, but it won for us, so I loved it,” Mulkey said.
“You know I always learned this from the best that I played for. You can game plan all you want. We worked three good days, had great scouting reports, great practices, and then everything can be thrown out the window based upon whats taking place on that field or on that court. Never did I think I would have to go small as much as I did.”
“I thought we could guard them better with smaller players and it worked,” Mulkey said.
On Kaylin Gilbert’s big night
“KG just — she’s deceptively quick. She looks like sometimes she’s not playing hard or going faster or as fast as she can, and then all of a sudden she’s got that little explosive step to get in the paint and make things happen. I thought, again, her on-ball defense was good.”
“She would get over screens. She would be down in them. You know, that kid had tears after the game, and it’s her journey.”
“We are certainly happy she’s at LSU. I say that every press conference,” Mulkey said.
On the post-game
Mulkey said she didn’t want to judge the post-play from this game, but said Sa’Myah Smith came up big.
“She had some deflections that were big for us,” Mulkey said, “Sa’Myah gave us a scare the other night. Sa’Myah is working extremely hard to get back to where she was,” Mulkey said.
But with the smaller lineup, Mulkey said there was not a place in the game for bigs on Thursday.