LSU women's basketball came out firing from all cylinders in Friday's SEC Women's Tournament quarterfinals win over 7-seed Auburn.

That was evident in the fact LSU went on a 21-0 opening run, with 13 points coming from sophomore guard Flau'Jae Johnson.

But was the Tigers' 27-5 first-quarter lead — which surpassed South Carolina's previous record for the largest point differential after the first quarter in an SEC Tournament game — an indirect sign to the NCAA Women's Tournament selection committee?

REQUIRED READING: LSU's Angel Reese dismisses injury concerns after SEC Tournament win: 'I'm from Baltimore'

Tigers coach Kim Mulkey, asked that question following LSU's game, instead credited the Tigers' defense, which held Auburn to an 0-for-12 start from the field while forcing five turnovers. She said it's a byproduct of her squad forming into their best basketball of the season.

"Don't have a statement to make. I said it before tonight, that we don't have to come here and win a championship to be a top 16 seed," Mulkey said in her postgame news conference. "I don't think you had to come here and win a game to be a top-16 seed. We've done our work but we're playing good basketball at the right time."

Indeed, LSU takes a nine-game win streak into Saturday's SEC tournament semifinals. Entering Friday's game, the Tigers were projected as a 2 seed in ESPN's latest NCAA Tournament bracketology. LSU was the projected No. 9 overall seed in the NCAA Division I women’s basketball selection committee's top 16 reveal on Feb. 29.

Like her head coach, LSU star forward Angel Reese — who sat out for the majority of the fourth quarter after rolling her ankle — said there was no statement or message to be made about the Tigers' strong start. She instead focused on how the Tigers handled Auburn guard Honesty Scott-Grayson.

REQUIRED READING: Kim Mulkey jacket: LSU coach dons multi-colored tiger sweater vs. Auburn in SEC Tournament

After scoring a combined 49 points against LSU in the regular season, Scott-Grayson was held to four points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field Friday night.

"Of course playing a team three times is hard because both teams know each other's strengths and weaknesses," Reese said postgame.

"Tonight, I think we wanted to know and show who the real Tigers were. So just being able to come out and execute (was great). Honesty is a great player and in both (previous) games she killed us so being able to have her in the first half not score and then I think she only scored in the fourth quarter in the last four minutes. ... So to be able to take things personal, it's March now so it is either win or go home.

"And I told the team before the game, win or go home, win or go home. So I think we just locked in and focused on defense, had less turnovers and came out on top."

No. 5 LSU (27-4, 13-3 SEC) will take on 3-seed Ole Miss in Saturday's SEC Tournament semifinals.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Kim Mulkey, Angel Reese discuss LSU basketball's hot start vs. Auburn