Stanford women’s upset bid falls short as No. 5 LSU beats Cardinal 94-88 in OT

By RON HIGGINS | The Associated Press

BATON ROUGE, La. — Mikaylah Williams scored a season-high 32 points, including a game-tying jumper with 4.3 seconds left that sent the game to overtime, and No. 5 LSU remained unbeaten with a 94-88 comeback win over Stanford on Thursday night.

Williams also scored six of the Tigers’ 14 overtime points, including a shot-clock-beating 3-pointer with 38 seconds that was the dagger.

Stanford (7-2), which led for almost 38½ minutes, was led by Nunu Agara, who had 29 points and 13 rebounds. Brooke Demetre added 19 points, Elena Bosgana 16 and Jzaniya Harriel 15.

Reserve guard Kailyn Gilbert had 25 points (five in overtime) for LSU (10-0), and Flau’Jae Johnson contributed 21 points before fouling out with 1:05 left in overtime.

Takeaways

Stanford: The Cardinal stayed in a 2-3 defensive zone, hoping LSU’s impatience would lead to quick outside shots from a team with just two legit 3-point shooters. The Tigers managed to stay within striking distance by scoring off turnovers, including one that allowed Williams hit the tying jumper with 4.3 seconds left.

LSU: The Tigers hadn’t played a team this season as big, strong, disciplined and fundamentally sound as Stanford and it showed. LSU didn’t have the speed to contain Stanford’s starting front line, which combined for 64 points and 21 rebounds.

Key momentThe Tigers were clinging to an 88-86 lead in overtime with the shot clock winding down when Williams hit a deep 3-pointer with 38 seconds left.

Key statLSU has won two of its last four games despite trailing by double digits.

Up nextStanford plays at Cal on Dec. 13 in its first Atlantic Coast Conference game, and LSU plays Grambling on Sunday afternoon in Bossier City.