Kim Mulkey is going to like how the story of Sunday’s game turned out.
One day after she ranted and threatened to take legal action against unknown claims in a supposedly forthcoming Washington Post story about her, Mulkey coached the No. 3-seeded LSU women’s basketball team to an 83-56 victory against No. 11 Middle Tennessee State on its home floor in the second round of the loaded Albany 2 Region of the NCAA Tournament.
The defending national champions survived a major scare under the Mulkey-created cloud of distraction, overcoming a four-point halftime deficit and a nine-point second-half deficit.
Middle Tennessee jumped out to a 41-32 lead with 8:22 remaining in the third quarter, but LSU responded with 10 straight points.
Aneesah Morrow scored a free throw with 4:19 remaining in the third, putting LSU ahead 44-43, and she added a layup on the next possession.
The Tigers never looked back, inflated their lead to 10 points by the end of the third quarter and turned the fourth quarter into a nerve-calming laugher.
Defensive intensity was the driving force in the comeback.
All-American forward Angel Reese was simply too much to handle in the post. She finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds and fouled out a defender in the third quarter.
Reese was one of four LSU starters scoring in double figures.
When Reese checked out with less than two minutes remaining, she and Mulkey held a long hug on the sideline.
The content of the Washington Post story is unknown to the public, though Mulkey has a clue because she said the school was sent a list of questions earlier this week.
She said that the approximately 72-hour deadline given a response during a game week was unreasonable while admitting in contradiction that she has known the reporter is trying to contact her for two years.
It’s not easy to bury Middle Tennessee, which had a historic 18-point comeback in its first-round comeback against Louisville.
LSU is headed to its 16th Sweet 16 in program history, where it will face the winner of Monday’s Creighton-UCLA game.
Middle Tennessee was called for 31 fouls to LSU’s 16, which allowed LSU to create a major scoring advantage at the free-throw line on a wide discrepancy of attempts (26-of-37 compared to 6-of-9).
