Tag: Hailey Van Lith

LSU women’s basketball routs East Texas Baptist in exhibition to kick off 2023-24 season

The Tigers kicked off their title defense with a 99-26 win over Division III East Texas Baptist.

Preseason No. 1 LSU women’s basketball began its national title defense on Thursday night with the first of two exhibition games, and East Texas Baptist was no match.

LSU easily dispatched its Division III opponent, winning 99-26 in a game that spotlighted practically the entire roster.

The starting lineup featured all newcomers with transfers [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] as well as true freshmen [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag], [autotag]Janae Kent[/autotag] and [autotag]Aalyah Del Rosario[/autotag].

All made their share of plays, with Williams, Kent and Morrow totaling 10 points. The former two also neared double-doubles with nine and eight rebounds, respectively. Van Lith nearly scored in double figures in her LSU debut, as well, finishing with nine points.

Despite coming off the bench, it was the returning players that would star in this one.

[autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] led the team with 18 points, while [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] scored 17 while adding seven rebounds. [autotag]Sa’Myah Smith[/autotag] registered the team’s only double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

LSU’s defense smothered ETBU, forcing 39 turnovers that resulted in 32 points for the Tigers. They also won the rebounding battle 51-34.

While the dominating win was a nice way to kick things off, a Division III opponent is far from a real test for a team that enters the year as the favorite to repeat as national champions.

LSU will kick off its regular season against a ranked Colorado team on Nov. 6, but in the meantime, it will have one more exhibition against Loyola (New Orleans) next Thursday night.

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How to watch preseason No. 1 LSU women’s basketball take on East Texas Baptist in first exhibition of 2023-24 season Thursday night

The Tigers will begin their quest to defend their national title on Thursday night.

It’s finally here.

After winning the first national championship in program history in Year 2 under [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag], the 2023-24 LSU women’s basketball team is set to take the court at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the first time on Thursday night.

The team begins its campaign with the first of two exhibitions, this one coming against East Texas Baptist. The second exhibition will be next Thursday against Loyola (New Orleans).

The East Texas Baptist Tigers are a Division III squad and are coming off a 20-7 finish last season in which the team reached the American Southwest Conference tournament championship game.

This matchup will be the first time LSU fans see transfers [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] in the purple and gold, as well as No. 1 overall signee [autotag]Mikaylah Williams[/autotag].

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of Thursday night’s game.

LSU’s Angel Reese named SEC Preseason Player of the Year, four Tigers earn All-SEC honors

The Tigers fill the preseason SEC accolades list.

The SEC coaches have announced the full list of individual preseason accolades, and star forward [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] has been named the Preseason SEC Player of the Year.

Reese was a unanimous First Team All-American last season, and she enters this season with high expectations. In addition to Preseason Player of the Year accolades, she was also named to the preseason First Team All-SEC.

She’s joined by transfer [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag], who was brought in to replace point guard [autotag]Alexis Morris[/autotag]. Van Lith was an All-ACC selection at Louisville last season.

Two more Tigers also appear on the Second Team All-SEC list in [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag]. Johnson had a breakout campaign as a freshman last season, earning SEC Freshman of the Year honors. Morrow, meanwhile, was a standout at DePaul before transferring to LSU this offseason.

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LSU women’s basketball transfers Hailey Van Lith, Aneesah Morrow earn AP Preseason Honorable Mention honors

The Tigers are the favorite to repeat after bringing in a pair of highly touted transfers.

LSU’s women’s basketball team looks primed to repeat as national champions in 2023-24 despite losing a couple of key players from last year’s squad.

A major reason for that is the transfer portal class coach [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] brought in this offseason, which was headlined by a pair of All-Americans last season in guard [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] and forward [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag].

While neither was named a Preseason All-American by the Associated Press like [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag], both were named to the AP’s Preseason Honorable Mention list on Tuesday.

Van Lith was the top transfer in the country after earning First Team All-ACC and All-American Honorable Mention honors with Louisville last season. Morrow comes from DePaul, where she had 53 double-doubles in 66 career games and was named the national Freshman of the Year in 2021-22.

With another absolutely stacked roster in Baton Rouge, this could be the start of a dynasty for Mulkey.

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Projecting the 2023-24 LSU women’s basketball starting lineup

Here’s who you might see when LSU women’s basketball takes the floor this year.

[autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] and LSU are gearing up to defend their national title.

The Tigers enter the year ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll and oddsmakers have LSU as the favorites to repeat.

Its Mulkey’s third-year in Baton Rouge and this roster is entirely built in her image now.

The expectation was always that Mulkey would build a championship program at LSU. That’s what she’s done nearly everywhere she’s been. But winning it all in year two still managed to exceed expectations.

This roster is even more talented than it was last year. At SEC media days, Mulkey said she’s still figuring out the rotation.

“Our practices are extremely, extremely intense and competitive as you can imagine. We don’t scrimmage each other much, because it can really, really get intense,” Mulkey said.

Here’s how we see the starting five shaping up in 2023-24.

Kim Mulkey on how LSU women’s basketball finds success in the transfer portal

Kim Mulkey discussed how LSU continues to find success in the transfer portal.

[autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] took LSU from a middling SEC program to the top of the sport in just two years.

Much of that success can be owed to LSU’s recruitment of the transfer portal. The national title team was headlined by transfers like [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and [autotag]Alexis Morris[/autotag].

At media days on Thursday, Mulkey was asked how LSU separates itself from the rest in that department.

“The portal’s changed everybody,” Mulkey said, “It’s something that you have to embrace, just like NIL’s changed everybody.”

Mulkey credits her staff, saying the assistants do most of the work in the portal.

“It’s not me. I’m maybe a deal closer…but at the end of the day if you don’t have a good staff that just really, really understands and works at recruiting, they’re not gonna knock your door down to come play for you,” Mulkey said.

LSU lays claim to the top-ranked transfer haul again this year. With the additions of [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag], the Tigers added the nation’s top two transfers.

“We’ve done a lot of good recruiting quickly,” Mulkey said.

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LSU’s Angel Reese named to preseason watch list for Katrina McClain Award

Angel Reese was one of 20 power forwards named to the watch list for the prestigious award.

LSU’s women’s basketball team enters the 2023-24 season ranked No. 1 in both polls as it aims to defend its first national title, and [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] is a major reason.

One of the most dominant players in the entire country last season, Reese is back looking for a repeat, and she was one of 20 players named to the preseason watch list for the Katrina McClain Award, which is given to the top power forward in the nation.

Reese was a unanimous First Team All-American last season while setting an NCAA record with 34 double-doubles including 23 in a row to start the season. She also led the SEC in scoring and rebounding, becoming just the fourth player to do so.

Reese is one of three players named to preseason watch lists for the Tigers as [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] was named to the list for the Ann Meyers-Drysdale Shooting Guard of the Year and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] made the cut for the Cheryl Miller Small Forward of the Year.

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Defending champion LSU, Angel Reese lead preseason All-SEC voting

Media members expect defending national champion LSU to control the SEC behind Angel Reese, Flau’Jae Johnson and transfer Hailey Van Lith.

The Southeastern Conference released its preseason media vote ahead of the 2023-24 women’s basketball season, and the results love LSU.

Not that anyone should have expected any different. The defending national champions return 2022-23 First-Team All-American Angel Reese and reigning SEC Freshman of the Year Flau’Jae Johnson. Head coach Kim Mulkey managed to lure Hailey Van Lith, who was an Honorable Mention for the All-American teams a year ago with Louisville, out of the transfer portal.

All three of the Tigers’ top names were awarded a spot on the Preseason All-SEC First-Team, with Reese named the preseason Player of the Year.

Can anyone slow the Tigers down? Media members seem to think two-time national champion head coach Dawn Staley’s team in South Carolina has the best chance. The Gamecocks ended up second in the voting, but they have won at least a share of the regular-season conference title in seven of the past 10 seasons, and they’ve cut down the nets in seven of the past nine conference tournaments.

Read below to see where the voters thought each SEC team would end up and who they feel will be the best players in the conference with tip-off on the horizon.

Preseason Media Poll

Rank Team
1 LSU
2 South Carolina
3 Tennessee
4 Ole Miss
5 Mississippi State
6 Arkansas
7 Georgia
8 Texas A&M
9 Alabama
10 Florida
11 Missouri
12 Auburn
13 Kentucky
14 Vanderbilt

Preseason All-SEC First-Team

Player Team
Flau’Jae Johnson LSU
Angel Reese LSU
Hailey Van Lith LSU
Kamilla Cardoso South Carolina
Rickea Jackson Tennessee

Preseason All-SEC Second-Team

Player Team
Anneesah Morrow LSU
Madison Scott Ole Miss
Jessika Carter Mississippi State
Jewel Spear Tennessee
Aicha Coulibaly Texas A&M
Jordyn Cambridge Vanderbilt

The 2023-24 LSU’s women’s basketball team could change the sport

This LSU women’s basketball team is one that will change the dynamics of the sport.

When LSU faced Iowa in the NCAA women’s basketball national title game last year, 9.9 million people tuned in to watch, setting a viewership record for the sport.

It was a triumph for women’s basketball. Throughout March, the women’s game drew more and more attention, culminating in that title game featuring [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and Caitlin Clark, perhaps the sport’s two biggest stars.

Women’s basketball’s influence is growing, and with the season set to begin in less than a month, look no further than Baton Rouge to see why.

The 2023-24 Tigers are uniquely positioned to take the visibility of women’s basketball up another level.

It starts with Reese. The star forward recently signed with Reebok as part of the company’s efforts to reboot its basketball brand.

Reese drew attention last year not just because of her play, which was good enough to earn her All-American honors, but because of the way she played.

She brought an edge to the court. It was controversial at times, but Reese embraced that too.

Then you have [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag].

Van Lith transferred to LSU in the spring after leading Louisville to an Elite 8 appearance. She brings a big personality of her own to Baton Rouge.

And also like Reese, her play and attitude earned her a deal of her own with Adidas.

Something’s changed. Women’s’ basketball is no longer taking a backseat. We’re seeing major companies make these athletes central parts of marketing campaigns. More and more people are tuning in to watch games. More and more news coverage is being devoted to a sport that’s always deserved it.

It’s gone mainstream. You saw it last March. Reese, Clark and Van Lith weren’t just being talked about by fans of women’s basketball, they were being talked about by a wider sports fan audience.

So much so, that Reese’s star is big enough to warrant her some space in Times Square.

LSU isn’t the only place this is happening. Iowa and Clark have a good case to make too and UConn continues to churn out star after star.

But there’s something different with what’s happening in Baton Rouge. This team is the perfect combination of heroes and villains. The dream team factor this year will only add to that.

You’re rooting for them or against them, but either way, you care.

There will be people who have never watched a women’s basketball game in their life that will end up watching this team, because that’s the type of attention it’s going to get.

There will be kids who decide to play basketball because of this team. That’s what influence is and LSU has it.

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BREAKING: LSU women’s basketball ranks No. 1 in both preseason polls for first time

The Tigers enter the 2023-24 season as a heavy favorite to repeat as champions.

The preseason women’s college basketball polls for the 2023-24 season were released on Tuesday, and for the first time in program history, the Tigers enter the season at the top of the rankings.

LSU ranked No. 1 in both the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and AP Top 25. Coach Kim Mulkey’s team earned 29 of 32 first-place votes in the former and 35 of 36 in the latter, with the remaining votes going to UConn in both polls.

The Tigers are coming off the first national championship in program history, and they look primed for a potential repeat this fall after bringing back stars [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] and [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] while also adding All-American transfers [autotag]Hailey Van Lith[/autotag] and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag].

LSU will tip off the 2023-24 season in Las Vegas against Colorado on Nov. 6.

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