A few moments after she assisted a 3-pointer, Flau’jae Johnson looked up into the Pete Maravich Assembly Center crowd. She wanted to take a moment or two to soak it all in.
This was Johnson’s last game in that building. Her last chance to toss passes across its floor to Mikaylah Williams. She was running out of opportunities to provide dishes like the one she flipped over her head and out to the left wing, where Williams paused for a beat and rattled in a 3.
That bucket gave the LSU women’s basketball team a 40-point lead on Sunday late in the third quarter of its 101-47 second-round NCAA Tournament win over Texas Tech. Johnson and Williams scored 24 points apiece, teaming up to lead the No. 2-seeded Tigers back past the No. 7-seeded Lady Raiders into the Sweet 16.
LSU has now set the NCAA Division I record for most 100-point games in a single season (16). The 54-point win is tied for the most lopsided second-round NCAA Tournament victory since 1983.
The commanding nature of the win allowed coach Kim Mulkey to sub Johnson out of the game with more than seven minutes left in the fourth quarter. The star senior broke down in tears when she realized she was checking out, and then she walked off the floor to a standing ovation.
“It was the most beautiful thing that I’ve been a part of,” Johnson said.
LSU rode a different record-setting offensive performance into its matchup with the Lady Raiders (27-8). The Tigers (29-5) scored more points on Friday in the Baton Rouge regional (116) than Texas Tech and Villanova combined (109). The Lady Raiders cut their teeth on the defensive end of the floor, as they showed in their tough, physical first-round game.
On Sunday, though, they couldn’t corral LSU’s transition offense.
The Tigers ignited that attack in the first half, when they forced Texas Tech into 18 missed shots and 12 turnovers. Most of the shots the Lady Raiders did make — at least in the first two quarters — came at the end of the shot clock and outside the lane. They didn’t score their first paint points until their first possession of the second half.
LSU created much better looks for itself, thanks to Johnson and Williams. They combined to shoot 18 of 28 from the field (64%), while the rest of the Tigers solidified the defense. Sophomore center Kate Koval tallied 10 points, 10 rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Freshman forward ZaKiyah Johnson added eight points and three steals. Senior forward Amiya Joyner tallied 11 points and 11 boards.
Texas Tech shot only 25% from the field, committed 19 turnovers and finished with just 12 paint points. Its leading scorer, senior guard Bailey Maupin, wound up with 19 points but none of her teammates scrounged together more than eight.
“There was a time in the third quarter,” Texas Tech coach Krista Gerlich said, “that we called a timeout and said if you don’t want them to hang a hundred on you, you’ve got to quit shooting it so quickly. We have to limit their possessions to keep them from scoring the ball because they can score it so well.”
LSU opened the game on a 10-0 run, but Texas Tech cut that deficit in half by the time the first quarter wrapped up. Maupin willed the Lady Raiders back in, first by earning trips to the free-throw line and then by draining contested 3s.
The Tigers, though, made sure that threat was short-lived.
They forced Texas Tech into six turnovers in just the first five minutes of the second quarter, then turned those giveaways into points at the other end. LSU scored the first 10 points of the second quarter, too, propelling itself to an 18-point halftime lead that it just kept extending throughout the second half.
“It was a great day,” Mulkey said. “It was a great day in the PMAC. You just wish you could bottle it up and take everybody in this arena with you to Sacramento, but unfortunately, a lot of people can’t afford to go.”
Before Sunday, Texas Tech hadn’t allowed more than 84 points all season.
LSU has now held two power-conference teams to fewer than 50 points this year: Auburn and Texas Tech.
The Tigers have advanced to the Sweet 16 in each of the past four seasons — their second-longest streak in program history. Mulkey has led her teams to at least that round of the bracket in 19 of her 24 NCAA Tournament appearances.
Under Mulkey, the Tigers are 3-0 in the Sweet 16. Last year, they beat No. 2 seed North Carolina State in Spokane, Washington, to set themselves up for a clash with No. 1 seed UCLA in the Elite Eight.
LSU could find itself in a matchup with the Bruins again, this time in Sacramento, California.
But first, it will have to win in the Sweet 16 against No. 3 seed Duke. Those two teams met in Durham, North Carolina, back in December, and the Tigers won 93-77.
Johnson scored a game-high 18 points that night.
The star senior was even better on Sunday, when she moved LSU one step closer to the Final Four in her PMAC swan song.
“Something I’m going to remember forever,” Johnson said. “Just so thankful for the fans. Thankful to coach Mulkey. The whole program. It’s just been unimaginable.”