LSU’s women’s basketball team is playing for a regional championship for the first time since 2008 on Sunday night.
With a spot in the Final Four on the line, coach Kim Mulkey’s No. 3-seeded Tigers draw No. 9-seeded Miami in the Elite Eight, which made it this far by virtue of a pair of stunning upsets against top-seeded Indiana and No. 4-seeded Villanova.
“I don’t like to use the word Cinderella because Katie (Meier) has been there a long time and has had good teams,” Mulkey said in a release. “But when you beat the No. 1 team on their floor like they did against Indiana, that grabs your attention. You’ve just got to prepare for a lot of things because of athleticism and quickness.”
After winning its first two games by 20+ points, LSU survived a thriller in the Sweet 16 against No. 2-seeded Utah, outlasting the Utes thanks to some clutch free-throw shooting from [autotag]Alexis Morris[/autotag] in addition to huge games from [autotag]LaDazhia Williams[/autotag] and [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag].
“They allow me to coach them, and I’ve got some strong personalities on this team,” Mulkey said. “I’ve said it all along; I don’t care, just bring me a competitor. I can handle a strong personality. A lot of coaches don’t want to coach strong personalities. They don’t want to deal with things. I’ve been doing it long enough; I’ve seen it all. If they love basketball and they’re a competitor, I can coach them. We’ve got some competitors.”
Here’s what you need to know to follow LSU’s contest against the Hurricanes in the Greenville 2 Region championship as the Tigers look to make their sixth Final Four appearance and first since making five in a row from 2004-08.