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LSU women's basketball vs Rice in March Madness: Live score updates from NCAA Tournament

The path to a repeat for LSU women's basketball begins now.

No. 3 LSU (28-5) opens play in the 2024 NCAA Tournament against Rice (19-14) inside the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on campus in the Baton Rouge regional Friday (3 p.m., ESPN).

Kim Mulkey and the Tigers look to stack up six wins in a row to capture another NCAA championship, just like they did as a No. 3 seed in March Madness last season.

Star junior forward Angel Reese, who was named a first team All-American by the US Basketball Writers of America earlier this week, leads LSU into the NCAA Tourney by putting up 19 points and 13 rebounds per game. Fellow star player sophomore Flau'jae Johnson has been key for the Tigers down the stretch of the season on both ends of the floor, scoring and defending the opposing team's best player most games.

Rice earned the automatic berth into the tournament field by winning the American Athletic Conference last week, defeating East Carolina, 61-41. The Owls have struggled this season, losing 14 games this year, but they did flip the switch at the right time to win the conference tournament as a No. 10 seed.

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

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This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball vs Rice: Live updates from 2024 March Madness