LSU ends JU's women's basketball run in NCAA Tournament first round

AP It only lasted one game, but for Jacksonville University women's basketball, the NCAA Tournament memories will last. Second-seeded LSU slammed the door on a special season for the Dolphins, beating JU 116-58 in the NCAA first round of the Sacramento Regional on March 20. LSU's trio of SEC honorees — Flau'jae Johnson, MiLaysia Fulwiley and Mikaylah Williams — proved three too many for the Dolphins inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge, La.

The game ended painfully in more ways than one for the Dolphins, who lost ASUN player of the year Priscilla Williams to an arm injury seven minutes into the first quarter. After an awkward fall near the sideline, she had her arm placed in a sling and did not return. JU head coach Special Jennings told ESPN during halftime that Williams appeared to have suffered an elbow ligament injury.

But LSU (28-5), favored by 51 1/2 points, had seized control before Williams went to the sideline. The Tigers began with a 14-0 run in the first two and a half minutes, racking up 34 points by the end of the first quarter and 64 by halftime. Flau'jae Johnson led with 20 points, while Mikaylah Williams (18 points, 10 assists), Jada Richard (17), ZaKiyah Johnson (16), Fulwiley (13), Grace Knox (11) and Kate Koval (11) also scored in double figures as the Tigers surpassed 100 points for the 15th time this year.

Carmaya Bowman led JU (24-9) with 14 points and freshman Tatum Brown scored 11. The Dolphins had qualified for the tournament for only the second time in school history, following 2016. The Tigers, who won the rebounding battle 45-21 and forced 28 JU turnovers, advance to a March 22 second-round game against Texas Tech or Villanova.