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LSU Women’s Basketball Claims First National Championship

As the final seconds of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Championship ticked away, LSU Coach Kim Mulkey held back tears but ultimately was overcome with emotion. The No. 3 seeded Tigers defeated the No. 2 seeded Iowa Hawkeyes, 102-85, to claim the first national championship in program history.

“With about 1:30 to go [in the game], I couldn’t hold it. I got very emotional. That’s really not like me until that final buzzer goes off, but I knew we were going to hold on and win this game,” Mulkey said in her postgame interview. “I don’t know if it’s the mere fact that we’re doing this in my second year back home. I don’t know if it was the fact that I am home. … I don’t know if it was looking across at LSU. I don’t know what it was, but I lost it.”

The road to championship glory wasn’t an easy one. During the offseason, the second-year coach had to “Piece it 2gether,” the team’s mantra this season.

After returning just one contributor from last year, Mulkey brought in nine new pieces – freshmen and transfers

– to build out her squad. Despite the odds, the team sprinted out the gates to a 23-0 start, and ultimately finished the season 28-2 before earning a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

LSU began the tournament hosting No. 14 seed Hawaii and No. 6 seed Michigan in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center after being selected as a host site for the first two rounds. They defeated both teams handily by an average margin of 23.5 points.

The Tigers traveled to Greenville, S.C., for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight. After a hard fought, back-andforth, three-point win against No. 2 seed Utah, and a decisive defensive performance against No. 9 seed Miami, LSU secured their spot in the Final Four.

An incredible fourth-quarter comeback from the Tigers over No. 1 seed Virginia Tech secured a spot in the title game against Iowa.

LSU’s title run was led by AllAmerican sophomore forward Angel Reese, who tallied 128 points and 91 rebounds and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. But after two first-quarter fouls saw the Baltimore native sidelined after just nine minutes of action, the Tigers needed an offensive spark, and they found it in an unlikely hero: graduate student guard Jasmine Carson.

She came off the bench shooting 7-7 from the field, including five 3-point shots. By the time the first half came to a close, Carson had scored 21 points, and the Tigers had amassed a 59-42 lead that they would never relinquish.

“This was the game of my life. I won a national championship on the biggest stage possible,” Carson said. “Everybody’s journey is different. You should just embrace your journey. I couldn’t have wanted a better ending than for it to end like this.”

Carson’s performance propelled LSU’s offense to a day that rewrote the record book. The Tigers’ broke NCAA Tournament marks for most points in a quarter (32), points in a half (59), and points in a National Championship game (102), and broke the LSU singleseason record for 100-point games (6). Reese added 15 points and 10 rebounds to secure her 34th doubledouble and set the NCAA record for double-doubles in a season.

But it wasn’t just offense that helped the Tigers claim their first championship. The Tigers needed to find an answer for Iowa’s superstar and National Player of the Year, Caitlin Clark.

Clark had been dominating the NCAA Tournament, averaging 32.0 points per game, including scoring 41 in the Hawkeyes Final Four victory against defending champions South Carolina which ended the Gamecocks perfect season.

Fifth-year senior guard Alexis Morris had the unenviable task of defending Clark for most of the contest. Despite allowing 30 points, Morris' defense played a huge role in containing the Hawkeye junior. Clark shot just 40.8% from the field, her lowest percentage in her last three games, and couldn't find her rhythm for long stretches of the game.

"She didn't keep them from scoring, they're that good," Mulkey said of Morris. "But what she did is she made every shot they took a little bit more difficult instead of easy.”

The game was an incredible display of competitive moments and offensive fireworks, which was watched by millions.