'Game of my life': How LSU women's basketball claimed NCAA Championship behind Jasmine Carson
DALLAS – It's likely Jasmine Carson wasn't near the top of Iowa's scout for the NCAA Championship game.
The senior shooting guard had largely been absent during LSU women's basketball's NCAA Tournament run, scoring in only one game. A total of 0 points for Carson in the three games leading up to title game.
Truth be told, Carson had been waiting for the big stage. When the Memphis native hit her third straight 3-pointer, she levitated off the floor extending three fingers to the rafters inside American Airlines Center.
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Her team-high 22 points on a near-perfect performance (7-of-8 shooting) powered coach Kim Mulkey and the Tigers (34-2) over Iowa (31-7) to the historic 102-85 victory Sunday for the program's first NCAA Championship.
"It was a surreal moment," said Carson. "Every player dreams of being on a big stage like this and having the game of your life, and for it to come to fruition, it meant a lot. I was just taking in the moment. I was just living in the moment. Usually, I don't even celebrate after I make a shot, but tonight I just let it all out. I made a 3, I was like, I just had to let it out.
"I didn't have nothing to lose. This was my last game of my college career, and I ended it. I ended it the right way."
Further truth is, LSU likely wouldn't have won its first championship without Carson's lights-out 3s. Both star players Angel Reese and Alexis Morris entered foul trouble in the second quarter and both were relegated to the bench.
Despite that, LSU ballooned its lead during that stretch because of Carson, as well as Last-Tear Poa and Kateri Poole knocking down 3-pointers. The Tigers finished with one of their best outings from the outside at 11-for-17 (65%).
"Jasmine may be the second-best pure shooter that I've ever coached in my career," Mulkey said. "She can just light it up. When we got in foul trouble and we had three starters sitting over there early in the first half, or the first and second quarter, I thought just keep it close until I can get them back on the floor. That's what's going through your mind.
"When those guys got in there and they extended the lead and scored with Iowa, I thought this is going to be a fun night. They didn't just keep it close. They went in, and they attacked."
Shooters sink into slumps but before the title game, it felt like the slide might have no end. That's what makes Carson's clutch performance all the more unexpected.
"She has been in a shooting drought so for her to be able to come in and hit those shots, I'm so happy for her," Reese said.
Carson turned around her slump in a big way, putting up 21 points by halftime.
It was the kind of display that Mulkey brought her in for. And it was clutch that she let it out on the biggest stage.
"I would definitely say this is the game of my life because I won a national championship on the biggest stage possible in college," Carson said. "But when I woke up, I just wanted to win. I wanted to do anything that my team needed in this game, whether it was defense, rebounding, just anything, supporting them."
Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers and Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers and Cajuns coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU/UL athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: How Jasmine Carson shot LSU women's basketball to NCAA Championship
