Louisiana State scored 32 points in the second quarter of the N.C.A.A. women’s championship game, setting a tournament record for most points in a quarter. At the end of the half, the Tigers had 59 points, setting another record, for most points in a half. They set one more at the buzzer, with the most points scored in a tournament game, as they defeated Iowa, 102-85.
L.S.U. can thank Jasmine Carson for that.
Carson, a 5-foot-10 guard from Memphis who is in her final year of eligibility with the Tigers, led L.S.U. in the championship game on Sunday with 22 points, almost all of which came in the first half with a 3-point barrage after she entered the game as a reserve when the team’s leader, Angel Reese, got into foul trouble.
She made all five of her 3-point shot in the half, including a bank shot at the halftime buzzer that sent the gold-and-purple-clad fans in the American Airlines Center to their feet.
It was a turn of events worthy only of the N.C.A.A. tournament. Iowa and Caitlin Clark, the best 3-point shooter in the country, lost to L.S.U. and its flurry of perimeter shots from a breakout athlete few may have heard of before Sunday afternoon. In her perfect first half, Carson had one more 3-pointer than Clark in five fewer attempts, and hit all seven of her shots and…
