Off Shooting Night Can’t Keep L.S.U. From the Final Four

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Miami’s defense was playing at its peak. The Hurricanes had forced the Louisiana State star forward Angel Reese to miss all nine of her first-half shots in Sunday’s round-of-8 matchup in the women’s N.C.A.A. tournament. But at halftime, in a game that statistics suggested Miami should have been dominating, L.S.U. was up by 6 points.

That trend continued in the second half. Though L.S.U. displayed one of its worst shooting games of its season, the Tigers’ defense stifled Miami even more, and L.S.U. won, 54-42, to advance to the Final Four for the first time since 2008.

Reese produced her 32nd double-double of the season, filling the box score with 13 points, 18 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks. The Tigers were led by 21 points from Alexis Morris, who kept them going in the mistake-filled first half.

The teams both missed more than two-thirds of their shots for the game and combined for just a single 3-point basket in 27 tries, with Kateri Poole hitting the only one after L.S.U. was well in control.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/26/sports/ncaabasketball/march-madness-sunday-women.html