GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — With her team trailing by five to No. 3 South Carolina and 45 seconds left, LSU coach Kim Mulkey wanted the Tigers to trap — and then foul if they couldn’t come up with a turnover.
They tried to trap, but it didn’t work.
And the foul never came.
Thirty seconds expired off the clock before center Madina Okot beat the shot clock after a spin move in the low post with 15 seconds left to seal South Carolina’s 83-77 victory, sending the Gamecocks (31-2) into the SEC Tournament championship game Sunday.
“We were supposed to (foul),” a flabbergasted Mulkey said. “We had two fouls to give (before being in the bonus). It was not the decision. I can tell you, we were going to go trap and foul. We didn’t do it.”
Mulkey called it a mental lapse by her players, one that will serve as a learning experience moving forward.
“I don’t want to say lose our composure, but we just don’t do it,” Mulkey said. “So that’s why you stay in a locker room tonight (and ask) ‘You guys that were on that floor, tell me why we didn’t do that, OK?'”
Mulkey said it's those type of mistakes that separates good teams from elite teams.
“There's just a small margin of error that you can have to beat elite teams,” Mulkey said. “We think we’re an elite team, but we’re not going to win those close games against the South Carolinas, the UConns like that.”
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley, who needed to use a timeout during that 30-second stretch after the ball got stuck in the corner, said she was surprised LSU never fouled.
“For us, the more and more time ticked off it favored us so I was in favor of them playing it that way,” Staley said.
The Gamecocks made 12 of 15 free throws at that point in the game.
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