Aneesah Morrow scored 30 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as No. 3 seed LSU rallied past No. 2 seed NC State 80-73 in the semifinals of the Spokane 1 Region of the Women’s NCAA Tournament on Friday in Spokane, Wash.
The Tigers scored the game’s final 10 points in the last two minutes.
Sa’Myah Smith finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds and Mikaylah Williams added 19 points for the Tigers (31-5). LSU will play No. 1 seed UCLA in the Elite Eight on Sunday after the Bruins (33-2) defeated No. 5 seed Ole Miss 76-62 later Friday night.
Zoe Brooks scored 21, Zamareya Jones had 13 and Aziaha James 12 to lead the Wolfpack (28-7), whose last points came on a Brooks layup that produced a 73-70 lead.
Layups from Smith and Williams, the latter with 1:07 to go, put LSU ahead 74-73. The Tigers sealed the victory by going 6-for-6 at the foul line in the last minute.
Brooks made two field goals and the Wolfpack started the fourth quarter with an 8-1 run that produced a 61-58 lead. NC State twice pushed the advantage to five before Williams made consecutive layups to get the Tigers within 69-68.
Brooks’ jumper started the third-quarter scoring and increased the Wolfpack’s lead to six points before Morrow scored nine points during a 15-3 spurt that gave the Tigers a 51-45 lead.
Maddie Cox made a 3-pointer for NC State, but the Tigers rebuilt the lead to six points twice. Saniyah Rivers sank two free throws to trim the gap to 57-53 at the end of the period.
Hayes made a 3-pointer to start the scoring, but Smith followed with two jumpers and a layup to start a 13-2 run that gave LSU a 13-5 lead. Madison Hayes made another 3-pointer to stop the run, but the Tigers built the lead to 11 points before holding a 23-15 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
Jones made consecutive 3-pointers to pull NC State even at 25. Morrow and Smith hit back-to-back layups to give LSU a four-point lead. Jones made a 3-pointer to start a finishing push that gave the Wolfpack a 40-36 halftime lead.
–Field Level Media
