BATON ROUGE — Aneesah Morrow had her eyes intently set on her 10th rebound of the game but the first two times, a teammate snatched it down before she could.
And with 3:25 remaining in No. 7 LSU women's basketball season-opening 95-44 victory over Eastern Kentucky on Monday night , LSU coach Kim Mulkey subbed Morrow out for what even she thought at the time was the last time of the game.
It looked like the senior forward was going to finish with 20 points and nine boards. Shortly after she was subbed out, the Tigers had a busted defensive help play in the paint and EKU guard Kaitlyn Costner scored an easy layup.
Mulkey, knowing Morrow needed one more rebound to record a double-double, quickly sent her back onto the floor.
And with 1:01 left, Morrow grabbed her 10th board to give her a double-double to open the season to finish with 20 and 10 along with three assists.
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"I knew she had nine rebounds. You know what? That's enough," Mulkey said after LSU's win. "I think Sa'Myah (Smith) gave up or somebody gave up a drive and didn't help, so I put her back in there instinctively. I think there was about three minutes or so to go in the game.
"If she would've gotten it great, if not, she played a good game tonight."
Another reason Morrow almost didn't get her double-double was because of a hard foul to the head/neck area she took early in the game. After taking the hit from Alice Angeles, Morrow stayed on the floor for an elongated moment before walking off on her own power.
"She got hit hard and it was physical play. I was thinking, 'If I sit right here and wait for her to get a double-double and she gets injured I'll beat myself up over it all night,'" Mulkey said.
Morrow knew she needed just one more rebound as the game was winding down to reach 10 as she tried the last couple of minutes while her teammates unintentionally denied her efforts. Despite that, when Mulkey subbed her out with 3:25 left, she didn't lobby to get go back in.
"That's not her personality," Mulkey said.
Mulkey's helped her players reach milestones and performances before. She did it a couple of times with former LSU star Angel Reese the past couple of years. She wants her players to earn those accolades.
"If (an assistant) coach tells me, 'Coach, let her get one more rebound or one more something before they come out,' I'll do it. I'm not opposed to doing it," Mulkey said. "The only negative would be is if they got injured or something, you'd feel bad."
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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: How Aneesah Morrow earned double-double in LSU's win over EKU
