On Wednesday, LSU became the first women’s basketball team this season to grab at least 20 more rebounds than its ranked opponent.

Only 10 teams accomplished that feat last year, and the No. 7 Tigers (8-0) did it this week two days after pulling down 27 offensive rebounds in a win over Washington. Forward Sa’Myah Smith grabbed 11 of those, becoming just the fourth LSU player to corral that many offensive rebounds in a single game over the past 20 seasons, according to Stathead.

Those advantages helped LSU defeat its first power-conference opponents of the season.

And they indicated that the Tigers are on track to finish this year as one of the nation’s top rebounding teams — even without Angel Reese — ahead of their Sunday afternoon home game against NC Central (2 p.m., SEC Network+).

“They were battling in there,” coach Kim Mulkey said Monday. “(Aneesah) Morrow was double-teamed every time she caught the ball — they came from the backside and doubled her. We’ll help her with that, where she can face up more and find the open player.”

Across the two previous seasons, Reese grabbed 30% of LSU’s rebounds.

Even without that production, the Tigers are still pulling down 51.1 rebounds per game, the second-most among Division I teams this season. They’re also grabbing the 12th-most offensive rebounds per game (17.1) and the third-most defensive rebounds per contest (34.0), while earning the fourth-largest rebounding margin in the country (18.0).

Each of those numbers are higher than the ones LSU posted through eight games last season.

Across that stretch of play — a span that includes Reese’s 2023 four-game absence — the Tigers corralled six fewer total rebounds per game, and their average rebounding margin was 5.4 rebounds smaller than the one they’ve posted through the first eight games of this season.

How did LSU improve its rebounding numbers? It can direct a large chunk of the credit to Morrow, who’s on pace to snare even more rebounds than she did a season ago. Through eight games, she’s leading the country in rebounds per game (13.1), and she’s grabbed 26% of the Tigers’ total boards. Last season, she averaged 10.1 rebounds per game and pulled down 22% of LSU’s total rebounds.

Smith is also back on the floor, averaging 7.5 rebounds per game, after she missed all but seven games last season. Star junior Flau’jae Johnson is also pulling down 7.1 rebounds per night, two more than she did a year ago. She’s one of five Southeastern Conference guards who are averaging at least 7.0 rebounds per game so far this season.

Morrow has posted a double-double in seven of LSU’s eight games, and Smith has two double-doubles on the season, most recently in the Tigers’ Monday win over Washington, the first contest this year in which both Morrow and Smith have each posted double-doubles.

“For those two kids to have double-doubles, and our perimeter is supposed to be our strength,” Mulkey said, “well, that was good for our team because it’ll help with confidence with the post play.”

A win over NC Central on Sunday would give LSU its 100th win under Mulkey.

Only two coaches — Sue Gunter and Nikki Fargas — have led the Tigers to at least 100 wins. Mulkey has a shot to hit the milestone in 114 games, 13 fewer than the number of contests Gunter needed to tally that many wins.