Morris spurs late run, No. 11 LSU beats Mississippi St 71-59
Feb 17, 2022, 6:41 AM | Updated: 9:18 pm
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) — Alexis Morris scored 10 of her 23 points in the 17-3 run to close the game, Khayla Pointer finished with 18 points and No. 11 LSU beat Mississippi State 71-59 on Thursday night to win its fifth game in a row.
LSU (22-4, 10-3 Southeastern Conference) moved into a three-way tie with Florida and Tennessee for second in the conference standings, behind No. 1 South Carolina (24-1, 12-1).
Jailin Cherry had 10 points, eight rebounds and two blocks for the Tigers. Autumn Newby and Faustine Aifuwa each scored six points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
Anastasia Hayes led Mississippi State (15-10, 6-7) with 17 points and Jerkaila Jones scored 12, but the duo combined to shoot just 29.7% (11 of 37) from the field.
Hayes hit a jumper to give the Bulldogs a 56-54 lead with 6:43 to play. Morris made back-to-back baskets to put the Tigers in front for good as they scored 15 straight points to make it 69-56 with 11 seconds left. Mississippi State missed 10 consecutive shots and committed two turnovers during a scoring drought of more than 6 1/2 minutes before Caterrion Thompson hit a 3-pointer with 6 seconds to go.
LSU returns home to play Sunday against No. 17 Florida, which beat the Tigers 73-72 on Jan. 23.
Mississippi State begins its final road trip of the season at Missouri on Sunday.
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