By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
SPOKANE, Wash. –Two and a half quarters full of senseless LSU turnovers and UCLA raining 3-pointers dug a hole that ended the Tigers’ women’s basketball season one win shy of a Final Four trip for the second straight year.
Not even a furious fourth-quarter LSU rally could prevent the No. 1 seed Bruins from holding on for a 72-65 victory in the NCAA Spokane Regional 1 championship game here Sunday afternoon.
UCLA outscored LSU 22-12 in the second quarter when Bruins’ 6-7 first-team All-American senior center Lauren Betts sat the entire period in foul trouble, flipping game momentum.
“We did not take advantage of Betts being off the floor in the second quarter and we allowed perimeter threes and other people to step up,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “Our defense on Betts was as good as we could do.”
The No. 3 seed Tigers, who ended the season 31-6, committed 14 of their game-total 15 turnovers in the first three quarters. It’s also when UCLA (34-2) hit 7 of its 10 3-pointers to lead by 14 points at 43-29 with 6:40 left in the third quarter.
From that point until the final buzzer, LSU junior guard Flau’Jae Johnson, who had been missing in action for the entire first half when she scored three points, scored 21 of LSU’s final 36 points.
But even with her 16 fourth-quarter points to finish with a game-high 28 points, the Tigers fell short.
Besides Johnson, other members of the Tigers’ Big Three All-SEC first-team trio – senior forward Aneesah Morrow and sophomore guard Mikaylah Williams – had subpar games.
Morrow, who finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds, scored just two points in the final quarter on 1 of 4 field goal shooting and had no rebounds.
Williams, who missed her first 7 of 9 shots, finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 5 turnovers.
“I’m still learning. I’m only a sophomore,” Williams said. “I’ve learned so much from Nees, I’ve learned so much from Flau’Jae. I just continue to take those things, learn, and then hopefully when we come back again, I’ll have better decisions and better knowledge of what to do in those certain times.”
UCLA, which will make its first-ever Final Four trip, appeared to be in dire straits when it trailed LSU 13-9 at the end of the first quarter.
That’s because Betts went to the bench with her second foul with 57 seconds left in the opening period. It was the first time in her college career that she picked up two first-quarter fouls.
“We’ve been having great first quarters and great third quarters,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said. “And we were talking to our team and at the quarter break we said, ‘OK, here we go, right here. What are we going to do differently to come out and execute?
“It wasn’t even about Lauren (picking up two early fouls). It was like, we want to play better through this stretch. I thought we were very locked into what that looked like.”
Instead of taking advantage of Betts’ absence for the entire second quarter, LSU fell apart.
“I’m more mad at myself that I had the two fouls,” Betts said. “But this is what we’re talking about when we have a deep team. I don’t have to be in the game at all times. I have a team full of players who are just amazing and talented in their own right, and they put in the work.”
UCLA reserve guard Timea Gardiner picked up the scoring slack, scoring 9 points on 3-of-3 3-pointers as the Bruins outscored LSU by 10 in the period to take a 31-25 halftime lead.
“Our (lack of) discipline defensively cost us,” Mulkey said. “Examples would be when the shot clock was winding down, we are taught every day it’s a hot situation and it’s an automatic switch, and we gave up several of those today, wide-open shots.”
The Tigers’ guards were a picture of self-destruction as UCLA gained control.
Johnson and Williams scored a combined six first-half points on 3 of 13 field goals and had seven turnovers.
By the time LSU stumbled into the locker room with its second-lowest first-half scoring of the year, UCLA had the advantage, with Betts re-entering the game to start the third quarter.
When the Bruins took a 36-25 lead with 8:31 left in the third quarter on their sixth 3-pointer of the game, Mulkey finally called a timeout with eight seconds later to re-set her flummoxed team.
It didn’t work. UCLA hit two more 3’s to expand its lead to 43-29 with 6:40 left.
Mulkey called another time out. This time, the Tigers responded with a 12-3 run to enter the fourth quarter trailing 46-41. Johnson scored eight of LSU’s 16 third-period points and Morrow had four.
“I didn’t have a good second quarter,” said Johnson, who will consult with her mother and Mulkey in the next 10 days to decide if she will return to LSU for her senior season or enter the WNBA draft set for April 14. “I feel like I made the team go into a drought. So, I just tried to come back in the second half, not forcing it, just play within the system and try to make some stuff happen.”
Morrow had to be helped off the floor with a bloody nose with 1:22 left in the quarter. It happened when Betts shoved LSU’s Smith, whose head collided with Morrow.
After a trip to the locker room, Morrow was back on the floor to start the fourth quarter. But the Tigers never got closer than three points and UCLA made 12 consecutive free throws in the game’s final 2:05 to seal LSU’s fate.
Betts finished with 17 points and 7 rebounds. But the real heroes for UCLA were juniors Gabriel Jaquez and Gardiner, who hit five and four 3-pointers respectively, and scored 18 and 15 points.
As Close advanced on to experience her first Final Four, Mulkey reflected on her 25th season as a head coach. It was her 13th 30-win plus season and the 13th time in 23 NCAA tournament appearances, including 12 of the last 15, that one of her teams at LSU and Baylor has advanced to the Elite Eight beyond.
“I learned to celebrate every team I coach,” Mulkey said. Some have overachieved through the years, some have gone just as far as I thought they could go, and then some have underachieved. And that’s the fun part of coaching. When you retire, you sit in that rocking chair, and you think about all that.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com