No. 5 Louisiana State University clawed its way to a 74-59 victory over the Mississippi State University women’s basketball team Sunday night. 
At LSU’s last postgame press conference, head coach Kim Mulkey called MSU “one of the hottest teams” in the SEC.
The Bulldogs entered the game after a major win against the University of Arkansas. With boosted confidence and a No. 5 SEC tournament seed, the Bulldogs shot out on the court to defend their winning streak. Ramani Parker was in MSU’s starting lineup for the first time.
Right out the gate, MSU’s Anastasia Hayes made the first layup. LSU quickly responded, maintaining MSU’s pace until the Bulldogs silenced the Tigers for the last three minutes of the first quarter. 
One point behind the Bulldogs, LSU pushed back in the second quarter to shut out MSU for three minutes, reversing the game’s narrative.
LSU dialed in its force to keep the Bulldogs off the board, scooting to a 10-point lead with three minutes and 36 seconds left in the first half. 
MSU bounced back to quiet the Tigers for the quarter’s remaining two minutes and 56 seconds.
Despite LSU’s aggressive second quarter response, MSU was within six points of the Tigers at the end of the first half, 30-36. 
LSU fans attempted to drown out MSU’s drive in a record-breaking Assembly Center audience of 15,751. Even Shaquille O’Neal was present court-side. 
MSU head coach Sam Purcell mentioned the audience’s electricity and said the environment helps prepare his team for tournament play. 
“Like I’ve said to my team,” Purcell said, “there are so many great things that we can take from this game because we are going to be in this situation come the NCAA tournament, where we are on somebody’s home court, where it is loud. You couldn’t hear. You have to bottle that and learn from that if you want to steal one on somebody’s home court.”
No one was giving up easily as the teams battled fiercely on the court.   
JerKaila Jordan and Jessika Carter led the Bulldogs in points and rebounds. Jordan made 16 points and four rebounds, while Carter achieved 10 points and six rebounds. 
Three LSU players scored 16 or more points apiece: Angel Reese (23), LaDazhia Williams (16) and Alexis Morris (23). Reese also had 26 rebounds.
Reese proved to be a problem MSU couldn’t handle. The LSU forward built a fire for her team to stay warm, and the heat let them rise above the Bulldogs. 
“It’s just doing whatever I can to win,” said Reese about her performance against MSU. 
Reese assisted the Tigers to another 10-point lead in the third quarter. MSU kicked the energy up a level and tried to combat the Tigers in the quarter’s final minutes. Asianae Johnson showed grit as she sunk a goal for MSU with a minute left, then shot one successful free throw. As time expired, LSU made a three-pointer from mid-court, but the points didn’t count. 
While LSU made 27 field goals inside the arc, the Tigers couldn’t match that effort from three, as zero of its 13 attempts found the bottom of the net. MSU netted four out of 12 shots (33.3%). 
However, LSU held a prominent lead thanks to free throws and rebounds as they ended the third quarter up 54-46.
MSU quickly scored two points in the first seconds of the final quarter, but LSU answered the Bulldogs’ call with another Tiger two-pointer.
MSU’s Johnson made her name known fourth quarter to narrow the scoring gap. However, LSU stayed ahead of MSU, never letting the Bulldogs come within six points.
The Tigers tamed the Bulldogs 74-59 to close out regular season play. 
The Bulldogs left Baton Rouge with a 20-9 season record (9-7 SEC). The team heads to Greenville, South Carolina, Wednesday to take on the winner of the Vanderbilt vs. Texas A&M contest. The tournament games will be aired on the SEC Network.