BATON ROUGE — With a dominant third-quarter performance in front of packed Pete Maravich Assembly Center, No. 2 seed LSU defeated No. 6 seed Florida State 101-71 in the NCAA Women’s Tournament.
Kim Mulkey’s team advances to the Sweet 16 for the third straight season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
FSU pulled down the jump ball and Ta’Niya Latson took the ball and raced past LSU players for a quick layup. Latson would score the Seminoles’ first seven points. The Tigers meanwhile were paced by Aneesah Morrow who scored four of LSU’s first six points.
After Latson made a layup with 6:34 left, FSU held a 10-6 lead but that’s when LSU woke up. Sa’Myah Smith and Flau’Jae Johnson made back-to-back layups which sparked an 11-0 run for the Tigers.
With 4:24 left in the first, LSU held a 17-10 lead and the purple and gold faithful inside the PMAC were deafening. The Tigers maintained its lead and at the end of the first led the Seminoles 31-24.
FSU opened up the second quarter on a 7-2 run to cut the lead down to two points and then took the lead with a Sydney Bowles three-pointer. LSU answered and Smith got a bucket and a free throw to give the lead back to the Tigers.
The two teams kept battling and LSU held a 50-49 lead at halftime.
LSU set the tone to start the third.
Smith hit a jumper as the Tigers would outscore the Seminoles 11-4 in the first three minutes of the third. After Mikaylah Williams drained two free throws with 1:40 left, LSU held a 21-point lead.
In the third, LSU outscored FSU 31-6.
FSU was unable to recover in the final quarter as LSU maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the game. Mulkey began subbing out her stars with three minutes to go to standing ovations from the crowd.
BIG NUMBER: 30
FSU’s Latson entered Monday’s game as the nation’s leading scorer averaging 25.4 points per game. The Seminoles All-American had 23 points at halftime but was held to only two points in the third quarter and seven total in the second half of the game.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: SA’MYAH SMITH & MIKAYLAH WILLIAMS
Smith was huge on both ends of the court as she recorded a double-double with 20 points and 12 rebounds, as well as six assists, three steals and one blocked shot. Williams meanwhile led the Tigers with 28 points and went 3-for-3 from three-point range.
UP NEXT: No. 3 LSU (30-5) will take on No. 2 NC State (28-6) in the Sweet 16 in Spokane, Washington. The date and time are TBD but the game will be broadcast live on Mustang 107.1 FM.