After run to Elite 8, women's hoops falls to LSU, 54-42: "I'm so proud of my team"

The clock has struck midnight on the Cinderella tale Miami Hurricanes‘ remarkable march to the Elite Eight. After a hard-fought battle, the Hurricanes were unable to punch their ticket to the Final Four after falling to the LSU Tigers 54-42 on Sunday evening in Greenville, North Carolina.

“Congratulations to LSU,” Miami head coach Katie Meier said. “Just such a tough basketball game. I mean, if you like defense, effort, scrappy intensity, it was a great game. If you like three-point shooting, not a very entertaining game. We kept fighting, and we never quit, and we never pouted. Things were not going our way. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but that was really difficult to have the plays — I’m so proud of my team.”

It was somewhat of a slow start for both teams in the opening minutes of the women’s Elite Eight matchup. In their first five possessions, the Hurricanes turned the ball over four times as they struggled to settle into the contest. 

Following a scoreless opening three minutes, Hurricane guard Jasmyne Roberts scored the first six points for Miami as they took a 6-4 advantage midway through the opening period.

After taking the lead, Miami ended the quarter missing its final nine shots from the field, but despite the poor shooting start, the Hurricanes found themselves down just two points after 10 minutes. 

Roberts would continue to find success in the second quarter, but the rest of the Hurricanes could not find the bottom of the net. Of the Hurricanes’ 20 first-half points, Roberts scored 16 of them while going 8-of-10 from the field, while the rest of the team went 2-of-18. 

“I’ve got to credit LSU’s defense,” Meier said. “I know we were exhausted because we were pouring our heart and soul into the defensive end and the rebounding effort. So on the offensive end, unfortunately you get a little bit of like a oh, my god, I can rest a little, and I think that got us a little bit. And that’s all the credit to LSU for being so hard to guard inside and for taking our legs out so much.”

Heading into halftime, the Tigers led 26-20, while both teams continued to struggle from the field, shooting under 40% and a combined 0-15 from behind the arc. Roberts led all scorers with 16 points at the half.

“We just weren’t hitting tonight,” Miami forward Destiny Harden said. “Can’t always have a good game. That’s just what it is. Just wasn’t hitting tonight.”

With Miami unable to find a rhythm from the field, the Tigers extended their advantage to 34-23 with little under four minutes remaining in the third quarter. At the end of three, Miami found themselves down by double digits after scoring just seven points in the third quarter.

“I mean, got away from us because it was a 12-7 quarter,” Meier said. “I never felt like the game got away from us. I never felt that way, even at the end. The official was like 48 seconds, do you want to use your time-out. I was like, no, we’re going to score two more times and I’m going to need an advance time-out to get a tie. I never really felt like the game got — we missed really huge opportunities in big moments. But 7-12, if you sit here and tell me that LSU is going to shoot 30 percent, 8 percent from the three and 50 percent from the free-throw line, I’m thinking I’m cutting down a net right now.”

Following an 8-0 run with five minutes remaining, the Hurricanes trimmed the deficit back down to single digits, bringing them within striking distance at 43-35. Ultimately, that would be the closest they would get to the Tigers as their comeback effort fell short in the end.

The Hurricanes ended the contest 0-of-15 from behind the three-point line and had just one player over single digits, with Roberts with 22 followed by Lashae Dwyer and Lazaria Spearman with four points each. 

“I think Miami is in good hands with Jasmyne,” Harden said. “I think the world is just now just seeing her, but we seen it all year long, all last year. She gave it her all. Like I said, I call this girl my twin because every time she’s goes out there, she’s fearless. She wants to work hard all the time. She wants to be coached. She’s asking questions all the time. She’s starting to understand. She’s young, but she’s maturing very fast, and I can’t be prouder of her, and I can’t wait for her future. I know she’s going to do amazing things in the future.”