How Angel Reese's intensified leadership is steering LSU women's basketball down stretch

BATON ROUGE — Angel Reese publicly took ownership and accountability from LSU women's basketball upset loss at Auburn earlier this season.

In the aftermath of that January loss, LSU coach Kim Mulkey was the first to point out that it wasn't Reese's sole fault that the team got upended on the road. Mulkey had Reese run point on that late, fourth-quarter sequence down two points in Neville Arena and Auburn's JaMya Mingo-Young stripped her of the ball that ultimately won the game for Auburn.

But that day, LSU couldn't handle Auburn's highly active defensive ball pressure and it just found itself in a bad spot at the end of the game.

And just like the follow-up of the first meeting with Auburn, Reese was deadset on helping her team get their lick back. She was claiming ownership and accountability for how LSU was going to play the second time around.

The game was another tight one, the largest lead was 12 by LSU, but Reese and her squad pulled it out inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Thursday night, edging Auburn, 71-66.

"Tonight, I had to help my teammates more defensively," Reese said. "I had to be there for them once they set the pick-and-roll, stepping up and helping on that guard on the screen.

"I think I did a great job keeping the team together as well. Last time, I don't think I did a great job of leading the team in the right way."

Reese put up 25 points and 20 rebounds, just the second Division I player in the last 25 years to record six career games with a 25-20 stat line, in the win over Auburn. She scored 14 of her 25 points in the second half, an important part to LSU holding Auburn at bay as it closed within two points midway through the third period.

The steadiness of Reese and her delivery in key moments was the crutch that everyone assumed would have been there for LSU all this time.

"I told our team, they're going to go on runs. I think they're a really tough team," Reese said of Auburn. "They have really tough guards and experience of course with their two guards in Honesty (Scott-Grayson who scored a game-high 28 points) and Young.

"Being able to stay poised tonight and of course being back home definitely helped."

The truth is, that revved up type of leadership from Reese hasn't just shown up on gamedays. Mulkey said that how LSU's star has captained her team in between games has made a tremendous difference as the regular season winds up.

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"The best way to describe Angel's leadership is by how hard you play in practice," Mulkey said. "How hard do you play in practice as this last month comes to a close for her career at LSU. Just play hard.

"If she does, the rest of them will play hard and they'll play with a lot of confidence when she's playing hard."

Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.