Aneesah Morrow threw up a turnaround jumper from the baseline, and the LSU women's basketball team scored its first points of the season quickly and easily.
Eastern Kentucky didn't offer much resistance Monday in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center -- not on LSU's first possession or many of the ones that followed. The No. 7 Tigers (1-0) took a 24-point lead into halftime, then cruised to a 95-44 win, gliding past their first opponent of the 2024-25 season on a night in which they played efficient offense and sound defense.
LSU converted 58% of its field goal attempts. On defense, it allowed Eastern Kentucky to shoot just 26% from the floor and 19% from beyond the arc. The Colonels (0-1) had no answer for Morrow, Flau'jae Johnson or Mikaylah Williams, a trio of stars who combined to score 63 points.
"You're gonna have four or five on this team that can be double-figure scorers every night," coach Kim Mulkey said.
Johnson keyed LSU's quick start. She shook off three shaky possessions early -- which ended in a missed 3, an offensive foul and a turnover -- and caught fire not long after, scoring 12 of the Tigers' first 18 points.
First, Johnson nailed a step-back, mid-range jumper through contact. Then, she stepped into an open 3-pointer, curled in a sweeping layup set up by a pump fake, euro-stepped through the lane on a fast-break chance and rattled in a fadeaway look from just inside the arc.
Johnson finished with 25 points on 10-of-15 shooting. The junior was similarly productive and efficient in LSU's two exhibition games, a pair of victories in which she averaged nearly 30 points per game and shot 68% from the field.
"I think it's very obvious Flau'jae is playing effortlessly," Mulkey said, "and why is that? She's in the greatest shape she's ever been in in her life, and it's coming very easy for her."
Morrow, a senior, did most of LSU's dirty work in the paint. She converted 9 of 11 field goals and finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. She grabbed five of her 10 boards on the offensive glass.
Williams did not play in either of LSU's tune-ups as she worked through a minor ankle injury. In her first live game action of the season, the sophomore missed four of her first five field goal attempts before settling in and connecting on five of her next six. Williams finished with 18 points to pair with six rebounds.
LSU also received nice contributions from redshirt sophomore forward Sa'Myah Smith, who scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and transfer point guard Shayeann Day-Wilson, who chipped in six points after hitting two of her three 3-point attempts.
Eastern Kentucky committed 21 turnovers and attempted just five free throws. LSU let the Colonels convert only 11 of their 29 layups.
"They missed a lot of open shots," Mulkey said. "So, let's don't sit here and kid ourselves if we think our defense was that good to hold them to what was it, 44? They missed a lot of open shots, and those are things that you'll take in the film room tomorrow."
The five players who came off LSU's bench -- freshman Jada Richard, transfers Kailyn Gilbert and Jersey Wolfenbarger, and returners Amani Bartlett and Aalyah Del Rosario -- combined to score just 11 points.
Gilbert chipped in eight of those points in the fourth quarter, when she converted a jumper, a layup through contact and a 3-pointer.
LSU did not have guards Mjracle Sheppard, a transfer who's nursing a stress reaction injury, or Last-Tear Poa, a veteran who's sitting games so she can "take care of business off the floor," as Mulkey said Oct. 24 after the Tigers' first exhibition game.
Without those two guards and their defensive chops, LSU still toyed with a full-court press against Eastern Kentucky. Mulkey said she expects the Tigers to use that strategy more often this season and ramp up the pressure once some of their key players have more time to recover from the minor injuries they suffered during preseason practices.
Under Mulkey, LSU has now won 38 of the 40 regular-season nonconference games it has played and three of its four season openers.
The Tigers will return to the PMAC at 7 p.m. Friday in a game against Northwestern State.