With a 54-42 win over Miami on Sunday evening at the Greenville Regional 2, the LSU women’s basketball team advanced to the NCAA Women’s Final Four in Dallas. It is the Tigers’ first Final Four trip since 2008.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
After nearly a minute and half of scoreless basketball, LSU got on the board first with an Alexis Morris layup. After another two minutes of neither team scoring, Miami’s Jasmyne Roberts made back-to-back layups to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.
Morris made a layup to tie the game but then Roberts responded with a jumper. The two teams would go back and forth the rest of the opening period and LSU would hold a 10-8 lead at the end of the first.
The tight contest continued throughout the second quarter.
After a pair of buckets by Roberts, Miami and LSU were tied 18-18 with 4:08 left in the half.
The Tigers answered by going on a 6-0 run — featuring four points from Sa’Myah Smith — and LSU led 24-18 with 1:55 left before halftime.
At the break, LSU led 26-20.
LSU All-American forward Angel Reese struggled with getting her shot to fall in the first half as she began the game shooting 0-for-9 from the field but she did have seven points on free throws and eight rebounds.
Morris meanwhile paced the Tigers scoring 10 of the Tigers’ first-half 26 points.
LSU maintained its lead in the third quarter and then pushed its lead to 11 points after a Morris jumper with 4:36 left in the third quarter.
At the end of the third quarter, LSU held a 38-27 lead over Miami.
LSU pushed its lead all the way up to 16 points after Kateri Poole’s three-pointer but Miami would respond with a 8-0 run.
With 4:03 left in the fourth, LSU’s lead was down 43-35.
Tigers answered as Morris made a layup and then Reese hit a jumper. With 2:07 left in the fourth, LSU led 47-35.
The Tigers were able to hold off the Hurricanes and Kim Mulkey’s team punched its ticket to the Final Four.
BIG NUMBER: 15
With Sunday’s victory, LSU punched its ticket to the Final Four for the first time in 15 years. The Tigers advanced to the Final Four five straight years from 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
BIG NUMBER II: 8.3
Miami went 0-for-15 from three-point range while LSU went 1-of-12 from deep as the two teams combined to shoot 8.3 percent from three-point range.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: ALEXIS MORRIS
LSU’s senior guard gave the team the offensive spark it needed in Sunday’s victory. Morris led the Tigers with 21 points on 8-of-22 shooting.
UP NEXT: LSU (32-2) will take on either Virginia Tech or Ohio State in the Final Four in Dallas on Friday night. Tip TBD.