Courtesy of LSU athletics
For the third year in a row, the Lady Tigers are headed to the Sweet 16.
LSU used a very strong third quarter to blow by LSU, 101-71, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Florida State kept it close throughout the first half – in fact, the Lady Tigers led by only one at halftime, 50-49.
Head Coach Kim Mulkey was forced to sit Flau’Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams for a good portion of the second quarter due to foul trouble.
Mulkey said her bench players did their job.
“Just stay in the ball game. Keep it close,” Mulkey said of the team’s goal while Johnson and Williams were sitting. “They will be good and rested. And Jada (Richard) especially — freshman there coming in, confident shooting the ball, defending those older players for Florida State. That was big for us.”
Richard said after the game she had no fear of the moment.
“My mindset was just honestly to be fearless in whatever way I can to impact the game, whether that be just playing defense (or) scoring,” the freshman guard said. “And when I saw opportunities to score, I just took it, and the ball went in.”
With Johnson and Williams rested, LSU outscored Florida State 31-6 in the third quarter.
In fact, LSU held Florida State scoreless for the last 6:31 of that quarter.
“I thought our conditioning was big because Flau’Jae and Mikaylah and Shayeann (Day-Wilson) were rested,” said Mulkey. “They played very little in that first half. And so they had a little more juice toward the end and were able to do things in the second half.”
Mulkey said the one big adjustment they made at halftime was changing the way they guarded Ta’Niya Latson.
“Instead of fighting to get over the screen that they were setting at the top (to) go under, (if) she makes threes, we live with it,” said Mulkey. “And I don’t know that she made a lot. We just couldn’t keep her out of the paint, and (we) got in foul trouble because we couldn’t keep her in front of us and gave up the right hand drive in the first half. So just completely get on her right hand when she uses that screen, go under it and take your chances that she’s going to miss more threes than she does free throws.”
The third-seeded Lady Tigers move on to face second-seeded NC State in the regional semifinals in Spokane, Washington, on Friday.
Even though this is LSU’s third straight trip to the Sweet 16, Mulkey does not take it for granted.
“There are many people that never get there,” Mulkey said. “In fact, in our locker room, there’s five that have never been there.”
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