Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU rally for Sweet 16 victory over UCLA
Only a few minutes earlier, it certainly did not feel that way. UCLA held a three-point lead with 2:46 left, having erased a 10-point deficit. The season appeared on the brink for the reigning national champions. Until Johnson and Angel Reese got to work. With the season on the line, the two players drew critical fouls. Reese made her free throws with 1:46 to go to give LSU the lead. Johnson made hers with 1:33 to build on the lead.
From there, the Tigers had control — especially after Johnson drove to the rim for a layup with 44.4 seconds left to extend the lead to four. The LSU fans roared. The Tigers would survive Saturday in Albany and advance to the Elite Eight — keeping alive their chances to repeat.
On the same day a long-awaited Washington Post profile on Kim Mulkey finally published, LSU played with the same fight down the stretch that its head coach has shown since she issued a preemptive statement last week about how she would defend herself against what she believed would be a “hit piece.” The Tigers certainly opened the game with more of an edge, but when they went into the locker room at halftime, it did not seem as if an extra bit of fight would be required.
They had a seven-point lead. Johnson was the best player on the court, a sweet spin move over Kiki Rice enough to get her to pose in front of the LSU section and ask for more noise as an exclamation point to a terrific first half.
But UCLA started to chip away at the lead in the third quarter, particularly after Reese went to the bench with her third foul. Long-range shots finally started falling — Londynn Jones hit back-to-back 3-pointers, and Charisma Osborne hit one, too. From there, it went back and forth into the fourth quarter.
UCLA had the lead. Then LSU fought back. Then it was tied. Then the lead changed. On and on it went until the final minute and a half, when the Tigers were simply too much for the Bruins to handle. Reese was limited for long stretches in foul trouble, but when the team needed her, she made the most of her time on the floor.
She finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Johnson led all scorers with 24 points, adding 12 rebounds.
And just before leaving the court for the locker room, she came back to the LSU section one more time, smiling her biggest smile. Knowing exactly what that win means.