LSU women advance to face defending SEC champ Mississippi St

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Khayla Pointer scored 19 points, Faustine Aifuwa added 16 and LSU beat Florida 73-59 on Thursday in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament.

LSU trailed early before scoring the final six points of the first quarter and opening the second on a 20-7 spurt, with nine points from Aifuwa, for a 37-19 advantage. The Tigers’ lead never dropped below 14 points in the second half.

Seventh-seeded LSU (20-9) will face ninth-ranked and defending champion Mississippi State, the No. 2 seed, on Friday. The Bulldogs, who won their first SEC title last season, beat LSU 64-60 on Jan. 16

Mercedes Brooks chipped in with 13 points for LSU, which continued its dominance on defense by holding its 16th opponent to 60 points or under. The Tigers scored 24 points off of Florida’s 20 turnovers.

Lavender Briggs led No. 10 seed Florida (15-15) with 22 points for the freshman’s fifth 20-plus game of the season. The rest of her teammates were a combined 14 of 37. The Gators attempted nine free throws while LSU made 18 of 20.