BATON ROUGE, La. – The sixth-ranked LSU women’s basketball team is set to battle the Alabama Crimson Tide in a Top 25 matchup Sunday morning inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
LSU (20-2, 6-2 SEC) will play No. 24 Alabama (19-3, 5-3 SEC) at the Maravich Center for the tailend of a three-game home stand in Baton Rouge after defeating Florida and Arkansas earlier in the week. The contest is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network with Tiffany Greene (pxp) and Carolyn Peck (analyst) on the call. Fans can tune into the LSU Sports Radio Network with Patrick Wright and Shaeeta Williams calling the action.
The Tigers go into the contest against the Crimson Tide on a six-game winning streak, dating back to LSU’s win versus Georgia on January 8. LSU leads the series all-time against Alabama, 46-21, in 67 matchups and will play on Sunday having won the last 7 of 9 games despite dropping last season’s contest in Tuscaloosa, 88-85, in overtime. When both teams meet in Baton Rouge, LSU is 27-3 and has won the past 16 meetings at the PMAC (Alabama last won in BR on Jan. 28, 1998).
Head coach Kim Mulkey is 4-1 against Alabama during her time at LSU with last season’s overtime loss being the only blip when going up against the Tide.
Mulkey, who coached in her 900th career game against Arkansas, officially has another 20-win season. Currently in her 26th season as a Division I head coach, Mulkey has accumulated an overall record of 774-126, including her 142-22 record at LSU. She is the second winningest coach by winning percentage all-time and among active head coaches (Geno Auriemma at UConn is first: 1,271-165 – 88.5%).
Before becoming a head coach, Mulkey was an assistant at Louisiana Tech for 15 seasons where the Lady Techsters won 20+ games in all but one of those seasons. As a player at Louisiana Tech, Mulkey was a part of four teams that all won over 30 games.
Sophomore Kate Koval recorded her sixth double-double of the season and the eighth of her career by bringing down a season-high 15 rebounds and scoring 12 points versus Arkansas. Ten of Koval’s rebounds came on the defensive side of the ball. Koval also blocked five shots, marking the first Tiger with five blocks in a game since current WNBA star Angel Reese recorded five against Kentucky on March 3, 2024.
LSU’s dynamic duo in senior Flau’jae Johnson and junior Mikaylah Williams paced the Tigers with 17 points each against Arkansas in its 92-70 win on January 29. Johnson finished with two rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Williams, in comparison, tallied five rebounds, three assists, and one steal. Joining Johnson and Williams, four other Tigers scored in double figures including freshman Grace Knox (12), sophomore Jada Richard (12), Koval (12) and freshman ZaKiyah Johnson (11).
After a five-game stretch facing four ranked teams in the top 13, LSU’s current five-game stretch includes three games against opponents in the bottom fourth of the SEC (Texas A&M – 14th, Florida – 15th and Arkansas – 16th) and a matchup versus Alabama, who currently ranks seventh in the league standings. Before LSU heads to Austin, Texas on Feb. 5, the Tigers traveled to Bryan-College Station before their three-game home stand at the Maravich Center to face the Gators, Razorbacks and Crimson Tide.
LSU leads the country in 5 statistical categories: bench points per game (41.7), rebound margin (19.5), offensive rebounds per game (18.6), scoring margin (41.3), and scoring offense (98.7).
