BATON ROUGE — The starting lineup was always going to look different for LSU women's basketball Sunday against Ole Mis s as Kim Mulkey honors at least some of her senior players with a start in their final home regular season game.
But first rotation for the Tigers looked much different than it normally would've as LSU star Flau'jae Johnson missed the Ole Miss due to injury. Junior guard Kailyn Gilbert got her first start at LSU in the regular season finale. Senior Last-Tear Poa started at point guard for the No. 7 Tigers inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.
And when the game got tight in the second half, Johnson's absence on the offensive end was prevalent. The Rebels (19-9, 10-6 SEC) erased a 13-point halftime deficit to upset LSU, 85-77, behind hot outside shooting and a stifling defense on LSU stars Aneesah Morrow and Mikaylah Williams.
FLAU'JAE JOHNSON TO MISS SEC TOURNAMENT LSU 'shutting down' star Flau'jae Johnson until March Madness, will miss SEC Tournament
LSU-OLE MISS SCOUTING REPORT LSU women's basketball vs Ole Miss prediction, scouting report for LSU, coach Kim Mulkey
LSU (27-4, 12-4) have lost back-to-back games for the first time since LSU dropped two straight games to South Carolina and Mississippi State last year.
Morrow came into the game one double-double shy of 100 for her career. On Senior Night and her last regular season game in the PMAC, she wasn't about to let the opportunity to become just the second player all-time to record 100 double-doubles pass her by.
Off an Rebel missed free throw with 5:27 left, Morrow corralled her 10th rebound of the game. Morrow became just the second women's player all-time to reach 100 career doubled-doubles.
For the game, Morrow, who played her last name spelled "Morreaux" on the back of her jersey as a nod to the French spelling of the "o" sound, had 28 points and 12 rebounds.
News broke shortly before tipoff Sunday that LSU will be without its leading scorer Flau'jae Johnson through next week's SEC Tournament in Greenville, South Carolina.
Mulkey said on the LSU radio pregame show that Johnson has been dealing with "shin inflammation" LSU's loss at Texas a couple of weeks ago and that it was evident that Johnson hasn't been playing her best basketball recently. So Mulkey and her staff have decided to rest her until the start of the NCAA Tournament.
Not having Johnson was hard to overcome for LSU against Ole Miss.
LSU's season-long struggles guarding the 3-point line cropped up in the third quarter. At the time, the Tigers were sitting comfortably with a 13-point halftime lead while Ole Miss couldn't really get anything going on offense.
That is until the third when guard K.K. Deans and Tameiya Sadler got hot from behind the arc. Deans drained three 3's in the quarter to help spark the Rebs' comeback. Couple that with the five turnovers LSU had along with the lack of quality looks on the offensive end and Mulkey's bunch saw its lead turn to a deficit in the late stages of the third period.
Ole Miss went 5 of 12 from deep in the second half and shot 51.4% overall to sink the Tigers in the regular season finale.
KIM MULKEY ON LSU'S LOSS AT BAMA Why Kim Mulkey said LSU's overtime loss at Alabama was 'a poorly officiated game'
LSU TRIPPED UP AT ALABAMA LSU women's basketball tripped up at Alabama in overtime
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com .
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball drops regular season finale to Ole Miss
