No. 11 LSU women's basketball sneaks by Kentucky, 78-69

BATON ROUGE — No. 11 LSU's women's basketball snapped its two-game losing streak, sneaking by Kentucky 78-69 on Sunday at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LSU's offense shot just 36% from the floor in the first half. But the Tigers (18-4, 6-3 SEC) picked up the pace in the fourth quarter, winning the period 30-16. They turned defense into offense, forcing 11 turnovers in the second half and getting out in transition for easy baskets.

"We shot 21% in the second quarter, 39% in the third and almost 70% in the fourth," LSU coach Kim Mulkey said. "It's that heavyweight battle I was telling them about. You've gotta be the one who is knocking out the other guy."

Here are three takeaways from LSU's win over Kentucky (9-9, 2-6 SEC).

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LSU's guards collapse Kentucky's defense

LSU's guards consistently collapsed Kentucky's shaky perimeter defense.

Senior guard Alexis Morris had 10 points through only a quarter of play and finished with 20. A strong finish to the first quarter forced Kentucky into a zone defense that helped stifle LSU's penetration-heavy attack.

Senior guard Jailin Cherry and Khayla Pointer were also able to generate open looks but didn't settle into a rhythm until later in the game. Pointer took over in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 of her 28 points in the period, while Cherry was more efficient in the second half.

"It's no secret that I was kind of struggling in the first half," Pointer said. "Coach said at halftime just to stay the course. She said a lot of stuff to us at halftime but that's one thing that stuck with me."

Kentucky's efficient offense leads to tight score

The Wildcats came into Sunday shooting 26.7% from 3-point range and 37.7% from the field in conference play. It was projected to be a mismatch against LSU's defense, which had held opponents to 36.4% shooting.

But Kentucky had an efficient day against LSU's defense regardless, scoring 67 points despite taking 12 fewer shots than the Tigers. The Wildcats shot 51.9% from the field in the first half and finished the game shooting 41% from 3-point range.

Freshman guard Jada Walker and two-time All-American Rhyne Howard led the way for Kentucky, combining to score 44 points — Howard had 23.

"You just played against a Kentucky team that was picked 5th in this league, that has the preseason pick for player of the year (whos) probably the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft," Mulkey said. "We knew we had our hands full with (Howard)."

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Alexis Morris picks up the slack

Morris had a hot start and didn't slow down. She hit four of her opening five attempts from the floor and was the only Tiger in double-digits at halftime.

It was another strong performance for the veteran, who was averaging a career-high 14.7 points before Sunday's game and is LSU's second-leading scorer.

Her quick start kept LSU's offense afloat as the Tigers' leading scorer — Pointer — initially struggled from the floor.

Pointer became the first player in LSU history to score 1,500 points, grab 500 rebounds and have 500 assists in a career, a feat she accomplished against Arkansas on Thursday.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball defeats Kentucky after strong fourthquarter