money Michigan women's basketball bedeviled by LSU's Angel Reese in 66-42 NCAA tournament loss
LSU star Angel Reese opened the second-round NCAA tournament matchup against Michigan women’s basketball with a bloody lip, after taking an inadvertent fist to the face.
For the rest of the game, she made the Wolverines bleed.
The All-American transfer from Maryland finished with 25 points and 24 rebounds, including 14 offensive boards, that nearly matched the Wolverines’ team total (26), plus three steals, four assists and six blocks as the third-seeded Tigers easily dispatched the sixth-seeded Wolverines, 66-42, on Sunday.
ROUND 1:Michigan women's basketball shutters UNLV, 71-59, to advance to NCAA tournament 2nd round
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LSU advances to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014 and will face second-seeded Utah in Greenville, South Carolina, on Friday. Michigan, meanwhile, failed to make the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2020.
Laila Phelia led the Wolverines with 20 points and Cameron Williams chipped in eight. Leigha Brown, U-M’s leading scorer this season with more than 18 points a game, finished with three points in 22 minutes after going scoreless (with four misses from the field) in the first half. Jasmin Carson added nine points on three 3-pointers for LSU and LaDazhia Williams had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Bogged down in the Bayou
Michigan struggled to score in the first quarter, but made things difficult for LSU, as well. Well, most of the Tigers: The Wolverines had no answer for Reese, who nearly matched U-M’s seven first-quarter points with four of her own, generated off of nine rebounds (including seven on offense). In all, LSU hit just four shots from the field in the first quarter, on 18 tries, and missed all seven of its 3-point tries.
Even so, the Wolverines trailed by only five points going into the second quarter, and by just three when Phelia dropped in a layup 16 seconds into the second. That’s when the floor started to tilt toward LSU.
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On the Tigers’ eighth 3-point try — their first shot of the quarter — they connected, as Carson hit an open look from the right side to make it a 15-12 game. After a miss by Brown, Carson fired from the top of the arc to give LSU a nine-point lead. The Tigers stretched it to 14 before Chyra Evans finally got Michigan on the board again in the second with 6:03 left before halftime. In all, the Wolverines went scoreless for 3:31 while the Tigers went on an 11-0 run.
All the while, Reese was seemingly unstoppable, vacuuming up LSU’s misses — the Tigers shot just 29.3% in the first half — to finish the first half with 14 rebounds (nine on offense) and 13 points, plus a pair of steals, as LSU went into halftime doubling up the Wolverines, 30-15.
A brief rally denied
Michigan finally got unstuck in the third quarter, drawing within nine with 2:54 remaining. But Reese kept producing, with another eight points and six rebounds, scoring on layups and free throws. Toward the end of the quarter, she delivered the exclamation point on LSU’s domination in the paint: As Phelia drove toward the basket in the final seconds, Reese stayed with her, closing ground quickly, then sent her layup attempt flying out of bounds.
As the LSU fans roared, she turned to the crowd and raised her arms in acceptance of their approval; it was her fourth block in just three quarters. After a replay review determined there was no foul, Michigan inbounded the ball, only to fail to get an attempt to the rim before the shot clock expired.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan women's basketball eliminated from NCAA tourney by LSU, 66-42
