Angel Reese came back to her home city of Baltimore on Wednesday evening. The forward helped the LSU Tigers win against the Coppin State University Eagles. The game marked the first time the Physical Education Complex at Coppin sold out an athletic event.
LSU won its 13th consecutive victory this season with a score of 80-48. Reese again asserted her star player status by raking up 26 points, six rebounds and five steals.
“Coming back here, this is my home,” Reese said after the game, according to The Baltimore Sun. “I’m the Baltimore Barbie before I was the Bayou Barbie.”
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The event gathered an audience of 4,100 people, which included Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Tickets for the game had been sold out before the end of November and were resold over the initial value of $15.
Coppin State prepared for the event by tripling its amount of security, including campus police and details hired from a third-party company.
“The Maryland games were big in the past, but never have we had a national champion with a star player with the profile of Angel, and part of that has to do with the climate of college sports and the NIL opportunities that players have now,” athletic director Derek Carter told the news outlet. “Even two years ago, when Maryland was here, that wasn’t the same profile that you have now. So, there are just so many different factors available to student-athletes now. So this is bigger than Maryland or Pittsburgh coming in.”
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Reese rose to fame after helping LSU secure the victory during last year’s NCAA final. She has become one of the country’s top NIL earners and has gained recognition from leading figures in sports, such as Shaquille O’Neal.
