DALLAS – The No. 3-seeded LSU Tigers (33-2) pull off an unbelievable comeback to take down No. 1-seeded Virginia Tech (31-5) contained in the American Airways Area 79-72 as they survive and advance to the Nationwide Championship.

The Tigers overcame a 12-point lead that noticed a 16-0 run final over the top of the primary half and the beginning of the third quarter. LSU got here by means of when it mattered most by outscoring the Hokies 29-13 within the closing quarter after beginning the fourth down by 9.

LSU will play for a nationwide championship in basketball for the primary time in program historical past. LSU had beforehand reached 5 consecutive girls’s Last Fours from 2004-08, however the Tigers by no means superior previous the nationwide semifinal till this yr.

Coach Kim Mulkey, in her second season at LSU, will function the top coach in a Nationwide Championship recreation for the fourth time in her profession. She has gained each such recreation she has coached, successful NCAA Championships at Baylor in 2005, 2012 and 2019. She is going to look to develop into the primary NCAA DI Girls’s Basketball Coach with NCAA Championships at a number of colleges. Mulkey is already the primary particular person – males’s or girls’s – with NCAA DI Championships as a participant, assistant coach and head coach.

LSU has pieced it collectively in Coach Mulkey’s second yr at LSU, going to the nationwide championship with 9 new items (4 freshmen and 5 transfers) and just one returning contributor in Alexis Morris.

Angel Reese had one other report breaking efficiency as she scored 24 factors and hauled in 12 rebounds to steer her crew to the Championship in her first yr as a Tiger.

Reese’s double-double was her thirty third of the season and ties the NCAA report for probably the most double-doubles in a single season.

Reese additionally broke two rebounding information along with her 12 boards. Reese’s 545 rebounds this season breaks the all-time report for many rebounds in a single season for each LSU and in all the Southeastern Convention (SEC).

Alexis Morris fulfilled her dream of ending her senior night time in Dallas. The Texas native will play the final faculty basketball recreation of her prolonged profession in her house state. Morris led LSU with 12 factors within the first half and completed the night time with 27.

Elizabeth Kitley led the Hokies with 18 factors and 12 rebounds to be the one different participant on the ground to safe a double-double. The 2 different gamers to attain in double figures for VT had been Kayana Traylor and Georgia Amoore, each with 17 factors.

The Tigers held the lead all the way in which up till the ultimate minute of the primary half. The Hokies switched to a zone protection and completed on an 11-0 run to take a 34-32 lead into the break.

Virginia Tech stayed scorching from deep and constructed up a 9 level lead heading into the ultimate quarter. When it mattered most LSU went on a 15-0 run within the fourth quarter and outscored the Hokies 29-13 to safe its spot within the championship.

Up Subsequent

The Tigers will face the winner of South Carolina and Iowa. Sunday’s Nationwide Championship will air on ABC at 4:30 p.m. ET. The Girls’s Basketball program will look to seize LSU’s fiftieth nationwide championship as an athletics division.