Morrow, late defensive stands by LSU end NC State's season in Sweet 16

By Brian Murphy, WRAL

LSU Tigers	80
North Carolina State Wolfpack	73
Final

North Carolina State players react after their loss to LSU in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Young Kwak)

Aneesah Morrow scored 30 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as third-seeded LSU held off No. 2 seed NC State 80-73 in the Sweet 16 of the women's basketball NCAA Tournament on Friday night.

NC State led 73-70, but the Wolfpack didn't score in the final 2:00 as LSU ended the game on a 10-0 run. In its final five possessions, NC State went 0-for-3 from 3-point range, had two shots blocked and were called for an offensive foul.

"Morrow, she's killing us," NC State coach Wes Moore told ESPN in an on-court interview before the fourth quarter.

Said Moore after the game: "We just couldn't keep 'em off the boards. Morrow, in particular, we knew she was going to be a handful, and she was."

Morrow, the nation's top rebounder, had 17 points and 12 rebounds in the second half alone. She had nine offensive rebounds.

"Being dominant in the post, that was our goal for this game, to dominate the post, to get a lot more rebounds than them, and to be able to score inside as well," said Morrow, a two-time second-team All-American.

Said LSU coach Kim Mulkey of the 6-foot-1 Morrow: "She just works. She's an undersized post player in their battling bigger girls, demanding the ball, guarding on the perimeter.

LSU (31-5) will take on the winner of No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 5 seed Ole Miss on Sunday for a trip to the Final Four. NC State (28-8) was seeking a return trip to the Final Four. LSU is making a third consecutive Elite Eight appearance.

Zoe Brooks led NC State with 21 points and five assists. She scored 11 points in the fourth quarter.

"She's been more aggressive as far as scoring and looking for her shot this season and she definitely showed tonight as well," teammate Aziaha James said.

Reserve freshman Zamareya Jones had 13 points, including 11 in the second quarter to keep NC State in the game.

Backup post Maddie Cox added eight points and seven rebounds off the bench, but she missed a 3-pointer late and was called for a moving screen with NC State trailing 76-73 in the final 20 seconds. Cox had made 2-of-18 3-pointers on the season, but she made 2-of-3 in the game.

"She came in here and busted down two threes, she was handling the paint with Morrow, and that's hard to do," NC State's Saniya Rivers said.

Sa'Myah Smith had 21 points and 11 rebounds for LSU. Mikaylah Williams scored 19 points and had eight rebounds.

LSU, which beat NC State in late November, outrebounded the Wolfpack 52-36 in the game. The Tigers had 42 points in the paint. LSU outrebounded NC State by 20 in the earlier matchup.

"We knew coming in that was going to be the key to the game, keeping them off the boards, and we still couldn't do it," Moore said.

NC State has reached the Sweet 16 in seven of the last eight tournaments. The Wolfpack went to the Final Four in 2024, its first trip since 1998.

It was the final collegiate game for three key members of the Wolfpack roster: Rivers (nine points, six rebounds, five assists), James (12 points, four rebounds, three steals) and Madison Hayes (eight points, three rebounds).

"They made an unbelievable impact on the court as far as our ability to win, and won an ACC regular season championship this year, so a lot of great accomplishments," Moore said. "But just off the court, too. I mean they're unbelievable, interacting with our fans and with kids and just, they represent our program, they're ambassadors for our program in an unbelievable way. So, very blessed, it makes the journey a lot more fun when you have players and people like that."

Mulkey spent extra time in the postgame handshake line with several NC State players, including Cox and Rivers. Mulkey coached Cox's older sister at Baylor, where they won a national title together.

She told Rivers "what a great player she was," Mulkey said.

"I think the world of Wes Moore," Mulkey said. "There's certain coaches in your profession you don't like coaching against because either they're really, really good, and he is, as a coach, but he's a really good man, and I just told him that. I said, you're just a good man, Wes, and you're a heck of a coach."

LSU players react after the Sweet 16 of the NCAA college basketball tournament against North Carolina State, Friday, March 28, 2025, in Spokane, Wash. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)