LSU women’s basketball survives against Rice in NCAA Tournament opener

The Tigers will move on to face Middle Tennessee in the second round.

It was much more anxiety-inducing than the 28.5-point spread would have indicated, but the LSU women’s basketball team survived and advanced as the No. 3 seed in its NCAA Tournament opener against Rice on Friday afternoon.

It wasn’t exactly smooth sailing for coach Kim Mulkey’s team, which led just 30-27 at the half. LSU pulled away to an 11-point lead at the end of the third, though, and while the Owls made a couple of runs in the fourth, they couldn’t close the gap.

[autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] finished with a double-double with 10 points and 19 rebounds, while [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] (15 points), [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] (14) and [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag] (14) also scored in double figures.

After Louisville was upset by Middle Tennessee in its opener, the Tigers will now face the No. 11-seeded Blue Raiders in the second round on Sunday.

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