Flau’jae Johnson gives LSU women the spark they need to pull away from Missouri

After Angel Reese finished a layup through contact, Flau’jae Johnson, crouching a few feet to her right, slapped the floor three times.

Johnson didn’t score that basket halfway through the second quarter Thursday against Missouri. She didn’t even assist it. But she did set it up by hustling in transition, closing a large gap with a heavy sprint and sailing across the lane to block an open layup attempt by a Missouri guard.

With that block, she jolted the LSU women’s basketball team in its 92-72 win in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center, providing the spark that the No. 7-ranked Tigers (14-1) needed to break free from a close battle, and ultimately, distance itself from a pesky Missouri squad in their Southeastern Conference opener.

LSU, the nation’s leader in free-throw attempts and makes, didn’t earn a trip to the foul line until Reese drew contact on that layup. At that juncture, four minutes of the second quarter had ticked away, the game was tied 27-27 and LSU had already committed three turnovers in the period.

From that moment on, LSU outscored Missouri (9-5) by 20 points.

Missouri’s trapping zone defense clogged LSU’s driving lanes, shrunk its windows for entry passes and kept Reese and Morrow off the glass, limiting the opportunities they could find for second-chance points.

In the first half, LSU grabbed only two more rebounds than Missouri. It shot only eight free throws. And it allowed Missouri to grab seven offensive boards and convert 5 of 16 attempts from 3-point range. Missouri star forward Hayley Frank, with her 3-point shooting prowess, pulled Reese away from the rim and out on the perimeter, where she hit four shots from long range.

It all meant that LSU had to fight for the win. Missouri erased its usual advantages in rebounding and free-throw attempts peppered it with 3-pointers, outscoring it by 15 points in the category across the first two quarters. The Tigers from Baton Rouge had to find an advantage elsewhere.

Which they did — after finally earning trips to the foul line. LSU finished the night shooting 17-of-21 at the free-throw line, where they gained a 10-shot advantage over Missouri. 

Largely thanks to six free throws by Reese, Last-Tear Poa and Mikaylah Williams, LSU closed the first half on an 8-0 run and entered halftime with a seven-point lead.

From there, Johnson and Williams gave LSU another wave of scoring that pushed its lead to 17 halfway through the third quarter. First, Williams nailed a 3-pointer, LSU’s first of the game, from the left wing. Then, Johnson buried a 3 from the exact spot on the next possession, before grabbing a rebound and finishing a coast-to-coast layup through contact on the other end.

Johnson, in her best outing of the new season, finished with 24 points, five rebounds and three steals. She shot 11-of-17 from the floor. Only one LSU player, Poa, earned minutes off the bench before the score was out of hand.