Baton Rouge Louisiana the key to South Carolina staying undefeated despite trailing for nearly 33 minutes Thursday night the three from Bri Brie Hall that is two huge threes from the junior guard including one from the corner with 114 to play that broke a 70 to70 tie and gave South Carolina the lead for good helped lift the top ranked Gamecock to a 76-70 win over LSU in front of a packed House of 13 205 never mind that South Carolina which improved to 18 to0 looked out of sorts most the night while LSU grooved to as much as an 11-point lead in a game the defending national champion Tigers mostly controlled but when Angel Reese fouled out with 402 left South Carolina saw an opening and dropped the hammer the Gamecock finished on an 11 to3 run we're going to play for 40 minutes no matter if we're down double digits or up double digits we're going to try to figure out ways to close the gap South Carolina Coach Don Staley said game came down to what it usually does it's just toughness it's experience LSU coach Kim Maly said they made the plays to win it it was just toughness that was good for the SEC two teams battling it out seven Gamecocks scored six points or more led by Khloe kits who had 14 it took Camila cardoo 11 shot attempts to score 11 points but the 6'7 senior also grabbed eight rebounds helping South Carolina win the battle of the boards 39 to 37 that was an especially surprising stat given that LSU dominated rebounding most of the game but Reese's absence definitely made a difference when you lose Angel you lose a big part of what they do because she touches the ball a lot and as part of them making decisions Staley said LSU's flow J Johnson agreed with Staley's assessment that losing Reese Hurt the tigers that was a big hit for us 4 minutes left that's too much time too much time to not have Angel Reese on the floor she's so experienced Reese picked up her fourth foul with 820 left in the fourth quarter LSU leading 57 to 52 she briefly hit the bench but returned only to foul out with just over 4 minutes to go muli said afterwards that she didn't think she put reys back into the game too early but acknowledged that when you don't have Angel Reese on the floor it takes you out of your Rhythm takes you out of your confidence Zone rven Johnson was also clutch for South Carolina scoring 13 grabbing nine rebounds and dishing four four assists her layup with 24 seconds to play made it a two-possession game and LSU freshman Michaela Williams couldn't connect on a three to get the Tigers closer Johnson who drew Reese's fifth foul and then hit both free throws to tie the game 67- 67 Drew praise from Staley afterward it was huge to get Angel out of the game Staley said adding that on Johnson's game ceiling layup went through her options and then put her head down and made a play