South Carolina women's basketball head coach Dawn Staley dropped high praise for LSU's Angel Reese following the Gamecocks' dramatic comeback win on Thursday, where South Carolina overturned a deficit to win 76-70 against No. 9 LSU.
The game, which saw South Carolina trailing for most of the time, turned on its head following Reese's exit. Reese got her fourth foul early and briefly left the game, returning with 5:58 left. She fouled out with the Tigers leading by two with 4:02 left, ending with 15 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and a steal in 29 minutes.
“Angel is a talent. She's aggressive. She's poised. She's very unselfish,” Staley said, via Alexa Philippou of ESPN. “She's mean, she's physical, she is somebody that you want to play with because you know she's going to play to the very end, she's going to give it her all. That's what you lose if you're LSU and she's out of the game for the last four minutes.
“When you lose Angel, you lose a big part of what they do, because she touches the ball and she makes the right decisions.”
Despite being behind for almost 33 minutes and facing a hostile crowd, South Carolina's guards – Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, and Raven Johnson – were crucial in the final quarter. Their collective performance was key to South Carolina maintaining their undefeated status and extending their impressive winning streaks, both on the road and in regular-season conference play.
LSU's coach Kim Mulkey and player Flau'jae Johnson acknowledged the game's intensity and the impact of Reese's absence in the final minutes. Mulkey reflected on the small margins that decided the game, while Johnson emphasized the significance of losing Reese's experience towards the end.
“That was the No. 1 team in the nation, stacked team,” Johnson said. “I just felt like we were almost there, we were almost there … Experience – that was a big hit for us … We had four minutes left –that's too much time to not have Angel Reese on the floor.”
“I think we're one of the top teams in the country,” Mulkey added, “Losing to South Carolina the way we did sent a message that we're not going away.”
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