Once Mikaylah Williams caught an entry pass and spun to her right, opening space she needed to bury a mid-range jumper, the LSU women's basketball team's rout was on.
Arkansas didn't offer much resistance on Thursday. The No. 6 Tigers (16-0) shot 50% from the field, hit 9 of their 23 3-pointers and scored 36 fast-break points in the dominant 98-64 win they picked up over the Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena to begin their slate of Southeastern Conference games.
In LSU's fourth-most lopsided win over an SEC opponent since coach Kim Mulkey took over the program in 2021, four different Tigers scored in double figures.
Williams' mid-range jumper - which she hit at the 1:22 mark of the second quarter - was part of the 10-0 run that LSU built to bury Arkansas (7-9) under a 25-point halftime lead. Flau'jae Johnson kicked off the run by driving the lane and drawing a foul. Kailyn Gilbert sprinkled in a jumper and a layup, two field goals which Aneesah Morrow then paired with a second-chance bucket.
Even though Arkansas face guarded Johnson for a sizable chunk of the first half, the LSU junior still finished with 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. She and Williams, the star sophomore who chipped in 14 points of her own, helped the Tigers score in the halfcourt and take advantage of their transition opportunities.
Arkansas shot just 36% from the field and committed 21 turnovers.
LSU then turned those giveaways into 34 points.
Gilbert's 16-point night lifted a Tigers bench unit that chipped in 41 points to the rout. Jersey Wolfenbarger - in her return to her home state Arkansas and the arena where she played home games during the first two years of her collegiate career - notched 8 points and 5 rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting.
Morrow tallied 11 points and 10 rebounds in her nation-leading 14th double-double of the season. The LSU senior now has 88 career double-doubles, which is tied for the fourth-most all time.
Veteran point guard Last Tear Poa started alongside Wolfenbarger and LSU's three stars for the fifth game in a row, and she added 9 points and a season-high 6 assists after hitting 3 of the 4 shots she took from beyond the arc. Before LSU faced Arkansas, Poa had missed all 10 3-pointers she had attempted this season.
Arkansas guard Izzy Higginbottom, the senior who led the SEC in scoring over the first half of the regular season, finished with 27 points on 10-of-21 shooting. Only one other Razorback scored more than 10 points or hit more than five field goals.
LSU is 16-0 for just the second time in program history.
The only Tigers team to start a season with more consecutive wins was the squad that went on to win the 2023 national championship.
LSU next will return to the Pete Maravich Assembly Center to face Auburn at 3 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network). The Tigers will then face their first ranked SEC opponent next Thursday on the road at Tennessee.