BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Khayla Pointer scored 19 of her 28 points in the fourth quarter as No. 12 LSU pulled away from struggling Kentucky 78-69 on Sunday, giving first-year Tigers coach Kim Mulkey her 650th career win.
Alexis Morris added 20 points for the Tigers, who trailed 54-48 entering the fourth quarter after an 8-0 Kentucky run.
Pointer opened the final quarter with a layup and followed it up with a 3-pointer to tie the game. Pointer was 6 of 7 from the field and 6 of 6 from the free-throw line in the period as LSU made 9 of 13 field goals and 11 of 13 free throws with no turnovers. The Tigers also had a 9-5 rebounding advantage.
Faustine Aifuwa scored 14 points for LSU (18-4, 6-3 Southeastern Conference), which snapped a two-game losing streak to continue its best start in 15 years. Jailin Cherry had 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals. About 60 former players were on hand for the alumni game.
Rhyne Howard had 23 points and 12 rebounds for Kentucky (9-9, 2-6), which played its fourth game in eight days with just seven players and has lost 6 of 7. Freshman Jada Walker had a career-high 21 points, hitting four 3-pointers.
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Howard, who reached 2,000 career points in the last game, moved into second on the scoring list — her 2,021 passing A'dia Mathies. She is well behind Valerie Still (2,763) but joined Still and men's legend Dan Issel as the only three Wildcats to reach 2,000 points in 100 games or less.
Morris had 10 points in the first quarter as LSU opened a 23-16 lead, but the Wildcats were 7 of 11 from the field in the second quarter, taking a 34-33 lead on Howard's free throw at the end of the half.
Mulkey is 650-108 in 22 seasons, the first 21 at Baylor. Pointer is the only Kentucky player with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, and 500 assists.
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