LSU's Reese says no excuses, won't blame reinjured ankle for NCAA exit - ESPN

ALBANY, N.Y. — LSU forward Angel Reese reinjured her right ankle in a 94-87 loss to Iowa on Monday night but refused to use that as an excuse for her performance.

Reese fell into cameras along the baseline after blocking a shot at the 8:01 mark of the second quarter and immediately came up hobbled, hopping on one foot to the bench. After spending a few minutes on the bike, she reentered the game and played through the pain, gutting it out the rest of the way.

«I'm tough, so I tried to play through it, of course, and this is something that has been going on for a little while now,» Reese said. «But I played through it, and I'm not going to make that excuse for the rest of my play for the game.»

Reese initially sprained her ankle last month in the SEC tournament. When she reinjured it Monday, LSU led 34-30. She was 5-of-7 for 10 points at that point in the game. But after the injury, she went 2-of-14 for seven points and appeared to be limping up and down the court. Reese changed her shoes at halftime to a higher top for better ankle support.

«I saw her limping, but that goes to show the type of person she is,» LSU guard Flau'jae Johnson said. «She's not going to make excuses. She's just going to take that on the chin. I respect that. That shows how much she cares about the game and her integrity to the game.»

In tandem with the Reese injury, LSU lost its shooting touch after the first quarter. The game was tied at halftime, but the turning point came in the third quarter, when LSU shot 5-of-26 in its worst quarter of the game. Iowa took an 11-point advantage that it never relinquished.

The Tigers had no defensive answers for Caitlin Clark, who finished with 41 points and nine 3-pointers with Hailey Van Lith and Last-Tear