OXFORD, Miss. — LSU’s fourth-ranked Lady Tigers basketball team used a strong second half to get past Ole Miss 83-67 in Southeastern Conference action on Thursday night in Tad Smith Coliseum.
LSU (23-1, 10-1 SEC) led 36-29 at the break, but used a 13-2 run to break the game open midway through the second to take a 52-39 lead with 13 minutes to play in the game. Ole Miss (12-12, 1-10 SEC) had cut the lead to four points before the LSU run.
Mississippi native Ke-Ke Tardy led LSU with a season-high 19 points, including nine from the free throw line. Aiysha Smith added 18 points with nine coming from the line, while Doneeka Hodges had 10 points.
LSU used Ole Miss’ 25 personal fouls to connect on a season-best 30 of 37 free throws and hit 25 of 60 from the floor, including hitting 15 of 32 from the floor in the second half. The Lady Rebels shot 23 of 67 from the floor and hit 16 of 23 from the line.
Amber Watts led the Lady Rebels with 17 points and a game-high nine rebounds.
LSU outrebounded Ole Miss 44-41 with Seimone Augustus grabbing a team-high seven boards.
LSU returns home Sunday to host third-ranked Tennessee at 4 p.m. in the PMAC. The game will be for first-place in the Southeastern Conference with both LSU and Tennessee winning their games on Thursday night. UT will enter the game 11-0 in the SEC with LSU at 10-1.