DALLAS – Jasmine Carson banked in a 3-pointer to end the highest-scoring half ever in a women's NCAA Tournament championship game, as LSU built a 59-42 lead over Iowa on Sunday.
LSU’s 59 points surpassed the 55 that Tennessee scored in the first half against Louisiana Tech in the 1998 title game. Tennessee won that game 93-75.
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Carson, a graduate transfer from West Virginia, came off the Tigers' bench to make all seven of her shots from the field. The one to end the half was her fifth from beyond the arc.
“I’ve been working for this my whole life. It feels great to finally display it on this stage,” Carson said on the ABC/ESPN broadcast coming off the court. “It’s preparation. Before the game shooting, scout, film. It’s all preparation.”
The Tigers made 13 field goals in the second quarter, six of those being 3s. They were shooting 58.3% (21 of 36) overall, and 9 of 12 on 3s.
LSU did that while All-American Angel Reese played only nine minutes in the first half because of foul trouble. Reese had seven points.
Caitlin Clark, the AP national player of the year, had 16 points in 16 minutes for Iowa before picking up her third foul with 3:25 left in the first half.
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