The No. 7 seed LSU women’s basketball team defeated the No. 10 seed Florida Gators in the second round of the 2020 SEC Tournament by a final score of 73-59. With the win, the Tigers improve to 20-9 on the season and 31-14 all-time versus the Gators.

LSU advances to the quarterfinals against No. 2 seed Mississippi State on Friday, March 6 at 5 p.m. CT.

It was offense by committee for the Tigers throughout the entire game.

Khayla Pointer led the way with 19 points, 11 in the second half, four assists and two rebounds.

Faustine Aifuwa finished with 16 points, grabbed four rebounds, and blocked three shots.

Mercedes Brooks was a huge spark off the bench for head coach Nikki Fargas and the Tigers as she finished with 13 points and went 6-6 from the free throw line.

Jailin Cherry led the Tigers in rebounds with five while also adding six points.

For the season, LSU improves to 5-1 when leading by 20 or more points. The largest Tiger lead was 24, 63-39 at the 9:04 mark in the fourth quarter. The Tigers also shot an outstanding 50 percent from the field for the fifth time this season, improving their record to 15-5 this season when shooting higher than 40 percent. Another key to the game was free throw shooting as the Tigers shot 90 percent (18-20) from the charity stripe, the highest percentage the Tigers have shot from the line this season.

On the defensive end, the Tigers forced 20 Florida turnovers which resulted in 24 points. This was the third game this season the Tigers forced 20-plus turnovers as they did so against Michigan State and Kentucky.

With the win, the Tigers reach the 20-win mark for the fourth time under Coach Nikki Fargas. This is the sixth time LSU has reached the third round of the SEC Tournament since the bracket expanded to 14 teams in 2013.