Angel Reese grabs 19 boards as LSU beats Rice in tourney opener

Angel Reese had 10 points and 19 rebounds and LSU began the defense of its national championship by shaking off Rice 70-60 in the first round of the Women's NCAA Tournament on Friday in Baton Rouge, La.

Aneesah Morrow scored 15 points and Flau'jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams had 14 apiece for the No. 3 seed Tigers (29-5). They will face No. 11 seed Middle Tennessee, which upset No. 6 seed Louisville 71-69, on Sunday.

Destiny Jackson scored 15, Malia Fisher had 13 points before fouling out, Emily Klaczek and Sussy Ngulefac scored 10 apiece to lead the No. 14 seed Owls (19-15).

LSU's 24 turnovers led to a five-point disadvantage in points off turnovers, but that was offset by the Tigers making 22 of 31 free throws compared to 6 of 8 for the Owls.

Rice pulled within one point on three occasions early in the third quarter before a 3-pointer and a fastbreak layup by Johnson helped the Tigers take a five-point lead.

Jackson made a 3-pointer, but Reese made her first field goal and Williams added a 3-pointer and two free throws to help LSU open a 53-42 lead at the end of the third quarter.

Jackson's triple started the fourth-quarter scoring and the Owls got as close as seven before Hailey Van Lith answered with a jumper and Morrow followed with a layup for a 57-46 lead with 5:45 to play.

Rice climbed within six three times in the last two minutes, but didn't get any closer.

LSU scored the first seven points of the game before going quiet for a while. Van Lith made a 3-pointer and Johnson added a layup to give the Tigers a 12-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Morrow made consecutive layups to help the Tigers take their biggest lead of the half at 28-19. Klaczek made two 3-pointers to help the Owls trim the lead to 30-27 at halftime.