Reese, LSU women push past Miami 54-42 to reach Final Four

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Angel Reese had 18rebounds and LSU returned to the women’s Final Four for the firsttime in 15 years by beating Miami 54-42 on Sunday night, carrying arapid rise under second-year coach Kim Mulkey straight to thesport’s biggest stage.

Alexis Morris scored 21 points and Reese added 13 for thethird-seeded Tigers (32-2), who asserted control of a grinding,defense-first game. LSU’s length caused Miami problems even withReese — an Associated Press first-team All-American — having abrutal shooting day, and the Tigers offset their offensive hiccupsby dominating the glass.

LSU shot 30.2% and went 1 for 12 from 3-point range, includingmisses on its first nine attempts. But Miami was even worse from 3,missing all 15 tries.

The third-seeded Tigers finished with a 49-35 rebounding edgebehind Reese, which led to a 15-3 edge in second-chance points —all desperately needed on a day with offensive rebounds readilyavailable.

Mulkey is in her second season at LSU, bringing a resume withthree NCAA titles from her time at Baylor along with someflamboyant sideline looks such as her shimmering silver jacket withwhite pants for this one. She had cautioned that the Tigers wereoverachieving when they’re still strengthening a program for thelong haul.

Maybe so, but they’re ahead of schedule after pushing their waythrough the NCAA Tournament’s Greenville 2 Region. The Tigers headto Dallas to face Ohio State or Virginia Tech in Friday’s nationalsemifinals. Reese, a Maryland transfer who has led Mulkey’s teamall year with her physical play, was named the region’s mostoutstanding player.

When the horn sounded, Mulkey turned to her bench and leanedforward to put her hands on her knees as though in disbelief.Players soon began running to midcourt to celebrate — except forMorris running straight to the scorer’s table and jumping on top ofit.

Reese missed her first nine shots and didn’t manage her firstbasket until early in the third quarter, finishing the day 3 for 15from the field. But she went 7 of 10 from the free-throw line andcontributed four assists, three steals and two blocks.

Jasmyne Roberts scored 22 points for ninth-seeded Miami (22-13),which had taken a wild ride here. The Hurricanes rallied from ahuge deficit to beat Oklahoma State in the first round, stunned No.1 seed Indiana on the road, then beat Villanova in Friday’s Sweet16 despite blowing a 21-point lead.

The last win set off an emotional on-court celebration for KatieMeier’s bunch, which had played with toughness and athleticism toget to its first Elite Eight. The Hurricanes were trying to matchthe record for lowest-seeded team ever to reach a Final Four, setby Arkansas in 1998.

But the Hurricanes struggled from the start offensively, even astheir defense kept them hanging around and leaving openopportunities to make a push.

Outside of Roberts — coming off a career-best 26 points againstVillanova — seemingly no Hurricanes player could make a shot.

The Hurricanes shot 31.6% and plenty of their missed 3-pointerscame off clean looks. Destiny Harden, who hit the shot to beatIndiana, scored three points on 0-for-9 shooting with seven missed3s.

It was a disappointing conclusion to an incredible run forMiami, and the school fell short of making history twice in oneday.

The men’s and women’s teams were each playing Sunday to reachthe program’s first Final Four. The men pulled it off, beatingTexas in Kansas City, Missouri. That game went final during thefirst quarter of the women’s game — drawing cheers when the finalplay was shown on the arena scoreboards.

Miami battled, but couldn’t complete the double.