BATON ROUGE – LSU women's basketball put on quite an offensive display early on, but had to go to overtime before an 87-85 win over Missouri on Thursday night at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

Tied at 85, LSU won it on a Khayla Pointer layup with five seconds left in overtime. Alexis Morris blocked Mama Dembele on the other end before a game that had four lead changes and was tied six times was done.

No. 12 LSU (16-2, 4-1 SEC) won for the 15th time in its last 16 games. Its only loss during that stretch was to No. 1 South Carolina on Jan. 6. Missouri (13-3, 2-1), which beat South Carolina on Dec. 30, dropped its second straight.

"I feel like this game was a little bit of a chess match," Missouri coach Robin Pingeton said, "LSU has got some great players. Kim (Mulkey) is a great coach. She does a great job making adjustments."

A big one was needed late for LSU.

Tied at 83 one with one minute left in OT, Morris hit a jumper to give LSU an 85-83 lead. But Jailin Cherry was called for a foul on a block from behind, and Hayley Troup made two free throws with 13.1 seconds left to tie it before Pointer scored.

"We had (drawn) up a play for man, and they came out in zone," Pointer said of her game-winner, "so Coach just kind of called a low pass and I got the ball in my hands. I wanted to be aggressive and either take the shot or draw somebody and kick.

"I went a little early, but it worked out in my favor. ... I wasn't trying to go into another overtime, so I felt like we were going to win or we (were) going to lose, but I felt like I had enough confidence in myself to take the last shot and I wanted to win it for us."

DAWN STALEY: If Nikki Fargas got Kim Mulkey's LSU support, she might still be there

LSU led by 11 at halftime, but Missouri took a 76-75 lead on a Troup layup and the free throw that followed with 2:13 left.

After a Hannah Gusters jumper in the paint put LSU up 79-78 with 1:25 left, Gusters fouled Aijha Blackwell with a minute to go and Blackwell hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie it at 79. But LSU missed three same-possession shots, and Missouri's Lauren Hansen missed a layup with two seconds left to force OT.

Pointer led LSU with 21 points, Cherry scored 20 including two jumpers in the first minute of overtime, Morris finished with 17 and Faustine Aifuwa had 15.

LSU was up 44-33 after a first half in which it shot 54.3% (19-of-35) from the field, which is 8% better than it has shot throughout the season. LSU's 46.3% shooting percentage going into the game ranked 19th best nationally.

A late 3-pointer by Pointer gave LSU a 24-18 lead after one quarter. Pointer led LSU at halftime with 14 points that included 3-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

"Everything about the game tonight I loved," Mulkey said. "It wasn't an ugly game. It was a well-played game. Game management from my part can be better. ... But what did those kids come back and do? They made plays for us to win the game."

The win guaranteed LSU a winning record in season No. 1 for Mulkey after she left Baylor following 21 seasons.

It came with a cost, though, for LSU, which closes a stretch with 4-of-5 at home when it faces Vanderbilt on Sunday (noon, SEC Network).

Starting forward Autumn Newby, a transfer from Vanderbilt, had 12 rebounds and four points in 19 minutes when she had to be helped off the floor in the third quarter with an apparent lower leg/ankle injury.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: LSU women's basketball holds on to beat Missouri in overtime