LSU makes third straight Elite Eight behind dominant Morrow - ESPN

SPOKANE, WASH. — Fifth-year LSU senior Aneesah Morrow did not want Friday to be the final game of her standout NCAA career. Neither did her teammates.

On a night where leading scorer Flau'Jae Johnson was limited to three points on 1-of-8 shooting and finished the game experiencing double vision on the sideline after a fall, Morrow carried the Tigers for much of the way. The third member of LSU's big three, Mikaylah Williams, then took over down the stretch as the Tigers rallied from a three-point deficit in the final two minutes to beat NC State 80-73 and advance to the Elite Eight for a third consecutive year.

"[Morrow] got in the huddle and told us that this was not going to be her last game," Williams said. «So that's just me playing and not wanting it to be my last game, not wanting it to be her last game, so I think that's just a little bit of heart and a little bit of luck that them shots finally started to fall at the end of the game.»

Matching up against an inexperienced Wolfpack frontcourt that LSU had dominated in an 82-65 November nonconference win in the Bahamas, Morrow was a force in the paint. With 30 points and 19 rebounds, she became the first player with at least 30 points and 15 boards in the Sweet 16 or later since Stanford's Nneka Ogwumike in the 2010 Final Four, according to ESPN Research.

«I was actually disappointed she didn't have 20 rebounds,» Tigers coach Kim Mulkey quipped afterward.

«We just didn't have an answer for her,» NC State coach Wes Moore said. «We were trying to get around and front her some, we were trying to double her some. But the problem was a lot of it was off offensive rebounds and just being aggressive down there. Like I said, she had 19 rebounds, 30 points. I mean, there's