Flau'Jae Johnson sinks a layup that capped an 11-0 run by LSU to start the game Saturday night against San Diego State. Photo credit: Andrew Greenstein
The game Saturday night was pretty much decided when the LSU Lady Tigers arrived safely at the Pete Maravich Assembly enter.
LSU scored the first 11 points of the game and was on cruise control the rest of the way, beating San Diego State, 103-48, in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
Junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson saw her first action in more than three weeks, sitting out the SEC Tournament with a shin injury.
But Johnson showed no signs of rustiness, leading the Tigers with 22 points in 22 minutes.
Johnson may have made it look easy after such a long layoff, but she said it wasn’t.
“It wasn’t easy, but it was fun,” said Johnson. “The crowd, there was nine-thousand people there — I didn’t know there was going to be that manty people for a 9:00 game.
“It wasn’t easy, but I’ve been on that (stationary) bike,” Johnson continued. “Just keeping my wind up, I feel like I was trying to push through some spurts because I know that’s how you get in game shape.”
Coach Kim Mulkey spread the playing time around; no starter played more than 25 minutes, and five reserves played at least 12 minutes.
“I’m watching a lot of these first-round games where their main players are having to play extended minutes just to win a game,” Mulkey said. “Fortunately for us tonight, we didn’t have to do that.”
In all, 12 Tigers saw action Saturday night.
The 103 points were the most points that the Lady Tigers have ever scored in an NCAA Tournament game.
LSU will look to keep the momentum going Monday against Florida State, who beat George Mason earlier Saturday, 94-59.
Tipoff Monday at the PMAC is 5:00 p.m.
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