In a close contest, the South Carolina Gamecocks hang on to defeat the Duke Blue Devils 54-50 in the women’s Elite Eight to advance to the Final Four. It is South Carolina’s fifth consecutive women’s Final Four appearance.
Duke got a great look down two with less than 10 seconds left to play but Ashlon Jackson air balled an open 3 and Bree Hall came up with the rebound. That ultimately sealed the victory for the Gamecocks.
South Carolina plays the winner of TCU and Texas in the national semifinal.
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That Aneesah Morrow grabbed her 19th and final rebound of the game as time nearly expired Friday evening was fitting. The ball clearly belonged in the hands of the player who had thrown this team on her back time and again this season.
Late in the game, as NC State had jockeyed for positioning trying to close out the game, things looked perilous for LSU. Outside of Morrow, none of the Tigers had been thoroughly consistent through four quarters. Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU’s leading scorer, had been held scoreless until the third quarter, and a fourth-quarter collision would sideline her for the rest of the game. Mikaylah Williams, the third member of LSU’s big three with Morrow and Johnson, had started the game cold, going 4 of 14 from the floor for just 9 points through the first three quarters.
Meanwhile, NC State had a carousel of players stepping up and shouldering the load, never allowing LSU’s brief leads to balloon too much, mounting its own late comeback to lead for most of the fourth quarter.
In a late timeout, Morrow looked at her teammates and implored them: Take your matchups personally. Do not let that person beat you. And if everyone does that individually, LSU will not lose as a team. Take it personally.
It seemed that if Morrow could’ve physically taken some of the chip that sits on her shoulders perpetually, she would’ve.
Because for Morrow, that’s the game: It’s completely personal. Every bucket scored on her, every rebound she doesn’t get, every time her opponents finish with more blocks, more steals, more points, more anything, that means she didn’t do her job for her team. That means she wasn’t good enough. It’s that mindset that helped LSU to an 80-73 victory over No. 2 seed NC State in the Sweet 16 to earn a trip to its third consecutive Elite Eight.
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Aneesah Morrow hauls LSU into third straight Elite Eight: ‘One you want on your team’
