BATON ROUGE, La. — LSU coach Kim Mulkey pledged that she would not let an impending Washington Put up “hit piece” about her derail the defending nationwide champion Tigers throughout the ladies’s NCAA event.
A dominant second-half surge on Sunday, led by star ahead Angel Reese and dynamic guard Flau’jae Johnson, proved Mulkey proper, a minimum of for now.
Reese’s 20 factors and 11 rebounds together with Johnson’s 21 factors helped third-seeded LSU draw back for an 83-56 victory over No. 11 seed Center Tennessee within the second spherical.
“Pay attention, man, we’re not going to let one sleazy reporter distract us from what we’re making an attempt to do. Completely not,” Mulkey mentioned. “My children did not even know I mentioned that yesterday. That crew will not be concerned on this. They had been in shock after they noticed all that on the web.”
Mulkey grabbed headlines on Saturday when she railed in opposition to The Washington Put up and even threatened authorized motion. She didn’t point out the reporter by title, however award-winning Put up reporter Kent Babb confirmed to The Related Press on Saturday he’s engaged on a profile of Mulkey. He declined additional remark, and the Put up additionally declined remark.
Reese mentioned Sunday she did not know something about that, however different teammates did.
“Coach Mulkey’s had our again all yr, so we have got to have Coach Mulkey’s again,” mentioned ahead Aneesah Morrow, who scored 19 factors. “We have to play arduous and for each other — and that is so simple as it’s.”
LSU (30-5) trailed by 9 within the third quarter earlier than surging to a cushty second-half lead and ending the Blue Raiders’ 20-game successful streak.
“I did not wish to let my crew down,” mentioned Reese, who had a protracted embrace with Mulkey on the sideline when she checked out within the remaining minutes.
Reese additionally famous that she may need performed her final recreation on LSU’s residence court docket as a result of she hasn’t determined whether or not to show professional after this season.
“So, I did no matter it takes to win,” Reese mentioned. “And me and Coach have that sort of relationship the place she will get on me and speak to me, like, ‘I want you,’ and provides me that encouragement that I want.”
MTSU (30-5) led 41-32 within the third and appeared primed to widen the hole when Reese tripped over a fallen teammate on an tried layup and crashed to the court docket, sending the Blue Raiders on a 5-on-4 break the opposite method.
However Jalynn Gregory’s open 3 bounced off the again rim to LSU guard Final-Tear Poa, who fired the ball downcourt, the place Reese had simply gotten up for an uncontested layup.
That play spawned a 10-0 run — fueled partially by Mikaylah Williams’ pull-up jumper in transition and subsequent 3-point from the left nook — to place the Tigers again in entrance 42-41.
“One possession can change all the pieces,” Reese mentioned. “That might have been the possession.”
Later within the quarter, Johnson compelled a turnover by tying up MTSU’s Ta’Mia Scott, adopted that up with a 3 and later hit a bail-out, fallaway jumper because the shot clock expired.
“All people was going to need to suck it up and get down and do no matter it takes,” mentioned Johnson, whose triumphant gesticulations after every large play stirred the packed crowd right into a deafening frenzy.
“We simply had vitality. I imply, I really feel like all people felt that shift,” she continued. “My abdomen was effervescent. I mentioned, ‘I ain’t going residence.'”
LSU wound up outscoring Center Tennessee 27-8 throughout the remaining 8:22 of the third to take a 59-49 lead on Reese’s layup. The Tigers went up by as many as 30 factors after that.
“In the event that they resolve to play the remainder of the yr like they did the second half, they’ll be powerful,” MTSU coach Rick Insell mentioned. “I’ve watched loads of movie on them. That second half was about nearly as good as I’ve seen them play this yr.
“In the event that they resolve to do this, they’ll have one other probability to hold one other flag.”
Blue Raiders 6-foot-6 beginning heart Anastasiia Boldyreva scored 9 factors and blocked three pictures however fouled out simply earlier than the top of third quarter.
Savannah Wheeler, the Convention USA participant of the yr, scored 21 and Scott put up 15 for Center Tennessee, which misplaced for the primary time since Dec. 30.
Williams added 16 factors for LSU, which jumped out to a 24-15 lead earlier than slipping within the second quarter. The Blue Raiders outrebound the Tigers 25-18 within the first half and led 36-32 at halftime.
The Related Press contributed to this report.