DALLAS — LSU Tigers coach Kim Mulkey criticized her bench after an ineffective first half against the Virginia Tech Hokies during Friday’s national semifinals. Graduate student Jasmine Carson, freshman Sa’Myah Smith and sophomore Last-Tear Poa came away with a collective minus-14 in a combined 17 minutes before finishing with zero points by game’s end.
“They didn’t take that lightly,” Tigers star sophomore forward Angel Reese said of Mulkey’s challenge. “Coach gets on everybody, and I think they took that personal.”
Amid early foul trouble to their starters on Sunday, LSU’s “role players” stepped up massively on the biggest of stages, helping the Tigers score an NCAA title game record of 102 points versus the Iowa Hawkeyes on their way to winning the school’s first basketball national championship. Carson contributed 22, three points shy of her season high and four off her career high. It was the Tigers’ sixth 100-point game of the season but the first since nonconference play in November.
“I…
