Kim Mulkey is back on top of the mountain top of women’s college basketball, as the 3-seed LSU Tigers defeated 2-seed Iowa and Naismith Player of the Year Caitlin Clark 102-85 in Sunday’s NCAA title game.
Memphian and former Central and Whitehaven high school standout Jasmine Carson delivered the first-half punch for the Bayou Bengals. Carson had struggled during the tournament, held scoreless in her previous three games.
She found her touch in Sunday’s championship game, leading the team with 22 points while shooting 7 of 8 from the field and 5 of 6 from the three-point range.
Scoring 21 of her 22 points in the first half, she banked her fifth and final 3-pointer off the glass to beat the halftime buzzer, giving LSU a 17-point cushion at the break.
Though Carson struggled as of late, the West Virginia grad school transfer has always been a threat from behind the arc. Before transferring to McEachern high school in Georgia, she played two seasons at Memphis Central. In a game playing for the Warriors, she made 14-three pointers to set a Shelby County record.
The Tigers win the first title in program history in only the second season under Kim Mulkey.