Mulkey, LSU women rally in Final Four, reach first title game

DALLAS (AP) —Kim Mulkey is back in another national championship game, this timetaking the flagship university from her home state there for thefirst time.

It took LSUonly two seasons to get there with the feisty and flamboyantlydressed coach, and a big comeback in the national semifinal gamethat was quite an undercard Friday night.

Alexis Morrisscored 27 pointsand had two of her misses in the fourthquarter turned into putback baskets by Angel Reese in a big run asLSU rallied to beat top-seeded Virginia Tech 79-72 in the firstsemifinal game.

“I’m neversatisfied. I’m super-excited that we won, but I’m hungry,” saidMorris, who jumped on a courtside table and fired up LSU fans afterthe game. “Like, I’m greedy. I want to win it all so I can completethe story.”

Reesefinished with 24 points and 12 rebounds for LSU (33-2), which willplay in the national title game Sunday against the winner of thehighly anticipated matchup between Southeastern Conference foeSouth Carolina or Iowa in the other semifinal.

“It’s like adream. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m at the Final Four,” saidReese, the transfer from Maryland who carries the nickname 'BayouBarbie.' “I’m just not even believing this right now. It’s crazyhow much my life has changed in one year.”

Mulkey — in acarnation pink top this time — won three national titles in fourFinal Four appearances over her 21 seasons at Baylor. She is onlythe second coach to take two different teams to the nationalchampionship game. The other is C. Vivian Stringer, who did it withCheyney in the inaugural 1982 women’s tournament and Rutgers in2007.

“I came homefor lots of reasons,” Mulkey said. “One, to some day hang achampionship banner in the PMAC (Pete Maravich Assembly Center).Never, ever do you think you’re going to do something like this intwo years.”

LSU made fivenational semifinal games in a row from 2004-08 — the only times theTigers had made it this far. They lost each of those years.

The Tigershad to dig deep for this one, with neither team backing down.

Trailing59-50 after three quarters, LSU went ahead with a 15-0 run over afive-minute span. The Tigers led for the first time since late inthe first half whenFalu’jae Johnson had a steal and drove fora layup to make it 64-62.

Reese had sixpoints in that game-turning spurt, including a basket after Morris’attempted 3-pointer clanked off the front rim. Reese had asecond-effort follow of her own miss after rebounding another shotby Morris.

ElizabethKitley, the 6-foot-6 senior, had 18 points and 12 rebounds forVirginia Tech (31-5), the Atlantic Coast Conference champion thatwas in the Final Four for the first time. Georgia Amoore and KayanaTraylor each had 17 points, while Cayla King had 14.

Amoore set arecord for the most 3-pointers in a single NCAATournamentwith 24, though she had a tough night shooting — 4of 17 overall, including 4 of 15 from beyond the arc. She passedKia Nurse’s record 22 set in the 2017 tourney for UConn, which lostin the national semifinals on the same court. Arizona’s AariMcDonald had 22 in six NCAA tourney games two years ago.

The big runfor LSU came right after Amoore made her last 3-pointer with 7:52left for a 62-57 lead. The Hokies didn’t make another basket untilKing’s 3 with 1:19 left.

“I think wehad a few crucial turnovers as well as missed box-outs where theyscored on second-chance opportunities,” Traylor said. “I thinkthat’s just what it came down to really.”

Morris hadopened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer for LSU, then had adriving layup before Reese had a layup after a steal by Johnson.That quick 7-0 run prompted a timeout by Hokies coach KennyBrooks.

“They hit acouple of shots, gave them a little bit of momentum. They hit a 3right off the bat … kind of changed the momentum,” Brooks said.“They were aggressive in the passing lanes. But they also were alittle bit more aggressive down low.”

Virginia Techhad ended the first half with its own 11-0 run to lead for thefirst time, at 34-32 on Traylor’s driving layup with 53 secondsleft.

But it wasthe Tigers who led for 17:55 of the first half with the Hokiesgetting off to a slow start shooting — they missed eight of theirfirst nine shots — that anLSU cheerleader had an assist even beforethey officially had a shot.

King wascharged with a turnover on a ball that hit the rim and bounced overthe top of the backboard and got stuck there. With encouragementfrom officials and others at that end, a male cheerleader lifted upa female cheerleader, who knocked the ball down.