Night One In Spokane Regional Ends With Triumph For LSU & UCLA

At the close of Friday night the LSU Tigers and UCLA Bruins walked away from Spokane Arena and on to their buses to head to their hotels for the evening heading to Elite Eight. For LSU this was the third time in a row that head coach Kim Mulkey and her squad had punched their ticket to the Elite Eight and for UCLA the first time since 2018.

Game One: No. 2 NC State WolfPack & No. 3 LSU Tigers

For the No. 3 LSU Tigers who faced No. 2 NC State Wolfpack winning 80-73, the game started with a steal from NC State’s senior guard Saniya Rivers that led to an opening three pointer by senior guard Madison Haynes. However, LSU quickly punched back with sophomore forward Sa’Myah Smith scoring the Tigers opening six points followed by sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams coming down the floor and draining two back-to-back jumpers to give the Tigers the early lead 10-5. Senior forward Aneesah Morrow, known as the national double-double queen joined in the scoring at the 5:45 mark in the first quarter driving to the basket converting a layup and extending the score 13-5.

The combination of Smith (8 points), Morrow (9 points), and Williams (6 points) would go on to score, rebound and assist in majority of LSU’s remaining points in the first quarter allowing them to take an 11 point lead at the 3:44 mark and end the first up 23-15 keeping Wes Moore’s Wolfpack to 29.4% shooting, only 30% from beyond the arc, and committing four turnovers.

However, in the second quarter the tides turned with the Wolfpack holding the Tigers who had shot 45.5% in the first to 33.3% in the second and NC State improved their own numbers shooting 44.4%, 37.5% from beyond the arc, but more importantly got to the foul line and converted 6-for-8.

NC State similarly had their big three who scored and allowed the Wolfpack to take the lead going into the half. Senior guard Aziaha James created the momentum getting fouled at the beginning of the second quarter and converting both foul shots. She would go 5-6 from the foul line for the half, along with scoring 10 points and contributing one three pointer and a steal. She was joined by Rivers who had two threes, converted two foul shots, and three assists. Lastly, off the bench, freshman guard Zamareya Jones chipped in 11 points to give the Wolfpack 40-36 lead going into the half.

Second Half Battle Sees NC State Fall

The second half the game seemed to reflect a tennis volley with the score constantly switching back and forth throughout the third quarter. Morrow was able to pull the Tigers away at the 5:42 mark after a made jumper and foul on Jones resulting in a three point play to pull away by four, 49-45. Morrow would extend the lead again in the next possession 51-45, but sophomore forward Madison Cox off the bench in the third quarter seemed to be a spark for the Wolfpack as she drained a three at the 4:48 mark to close the gap 51-48. Again, LSU would lean on its experienced leadership as Morrow and Williams would convert points late in the third to take the lead 57-53 into the fourth.

The contest held tight in the fourth with NC State going ahead at the 8:03 mark by a layup from Cox. The score would exchange hands and remain close until 5:04 when NC State took a four point lead with a Brooks free throw, 66-62. Morrow once again would be responsible for scoring, driving, and converting a layup to bring the game to within two points. Cox would come down the floor and shoot another three for the Wolfpack pushing them back on top at 69-64. The Wolfpack would led until the 1:07 mark when Williams would make a layup propelling the Tigers forward by one point. Unfortunately, for NC State down this final minute stretch turnovers, missed shots, having to foul, and LSU converting free throws resulted in a loss, 80-73.

Interestingly, it was not until 6:32 into the third when senior guard Flau’Jae Johnson finally scored on a layup. Johnson did not have a great night overall going 1-for-8 and only scoring three points and committing three turnovers. She would come out of the game at the 5:04 mark in the fourth quarter injuring her eye in a play where she had the ball stolen by Brooks causing her to see double and not be cleared to return to the game. Johnson wasn’t happy with the decision as she was heard stating, ‘can’t you just tape my eye open?’, but again for safety concerns was not allowed to re-enter the game.

However, the Tigers were able to rally and win without Johnson thanks largely to the performance of the other big three who set the pace and tone from the first quarter: Smith, Morrow, and Williams. Smith finished the game with 21 points and 11 rebounds, Morrow had a monstrous double-double with 30 points and 19 rebounds, and Williams with 19 points and eight rebounds.

The game saw seven lead changes, four ties, but ultimately the Tigers had 42 points in the paint compared to the Wolfpacks 22. LSU also finished the game with an astounding 52 total rebounds compared to NC State’s 36.

In the press conference after the game, Morrow and Williams explained the spark at the end of the game was about extending Morrow’s college career. Morrow said, “Nobody likes to lose, so I talked to my teammates in the huddle and I told them we got to take our matchups personally. We have to be able to dominate and we have to be able to make defensive stops and we did that towards the end of the game. Williams expanded on this saying, ”She [Morrow] got in the huddle and told us this was not going to be her last game. So that’s just me playing and not wanting it to be my last game, not wanting it to be her last game, so I think that’s just a little bit of heart and a little bit of luck that them shots finally started to fall at the end of the game.”

Game Two: No. 1 UCLA Bruins vs. No. 5 Ole Miss Rebels

The last game of the night perhaps shocked new basketball fans as Ole Miss kept the first half to a one point game against the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament 30-29. However, Coach Yo of Ole Miss has been very outspoken about how her team has been overlooked in this tournament and throughout the regular season. The Rebels seemed to bring the underdog energy and chip on their shoulder into their matchup last night as they out rebounded the Bruins 23 to 21 in the first half.

Despite starting the game shooting 25% compared to UCLA’s 61.5%, in the second quarter, through their defensive pressure Ole Miss was able to hold the Bruins to 38.5% shooting and completely take the three point shot out of their arsenal.

Sophomore center Lauren Betts for UCLA was problematic early for Ole Miss. Betts had eight points early in the first quarter and 16 in the first half alone with five rebounds. For Ole Miss their first half scoring was led by senior guard KK Dean coming off the bench contributing nine points, as well as driving to the basket and getting to the free throw line, the team converted 6-for-9.

Second Half Domination from Betts Too Much for Rebels

Out of halftime, UCLA came out with much different energy, opening with an 8-0 run to force an early Rebel timeout. Junior guard Londynn Jones hit a three at the 9:07 mark to the thundering applause of blue and gold in the stands. Junior point guard Rice followed with 5 quick points. Betts would stay completely perfect in the quarter adding eight more points to her total. Rebels leading scorer KK Dean went cold in the third quarter and despite the efforts from Kharyssa Richardson (2 points), Tameiya Sadler (4), Christeen Iwuala (2), Starr Jacobs (2), and Kennedy Todd-Williams (4) Ole Miss found themselves behind by 11 points going into the fourth quarter, 55-44.

In the fourth quarter the presence and depth of UCLA was too strong for Ole Miss as the Bruins went up by 17 points at the 4:49 mark. Ole Miss would rally at the 3:28 mark thanks to a layup from Jacobs but the deficit was too large at that point 69-55. UCLA would cruise through the end of the game to win 76-62 thanks largely to the double-double by Betts who scored 3o points and 10 rebounds, three blocks, and shooting 80%, becoming just the third player in the past 25 seasons to record multiple 30-point, 10-rebound games in NCAA Tournament play.

After the game Betts was asked about this accomplishment and her motivation last night behind her play and performance, “Honestly I feel like ever since our loss to SC I’ve just completely changed my mind set going forward, I think just being aggressive no matter what and doing what I need to do to help my team and continuing to be positive regardless of what happens and I think Ole Miss is a really aggressive scrappy team and I think that tonight I just kind of assumed assumed like I’m not going to get any calls but no matter what I’m going to continue to play my game and I just think that helped me throughout the game. But that’s insane, like I’m just obviously very grateful and honestly the only reason any of that is happening is because of the program that I’m in and the people that I’m surrounded by and these coaches believe in me and that’s the reason why I play the way I play.”

As the regional continues today in Spokane, the other side of the bracket will play with No. 2 UConn facing off against No. 7 Oklahoma at 5:30 ET on ESPN and No. 1 USC playing for the first time without their superstar JuJu Watkins against No. 5 Kansas State at 8 pm ET on ESPN.

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