South Carolina won the SEC championship with a 79-72 victory over LSU. Sunday’s contentious matchup included a fourth-quarter tussle.
After intentionally fouling MiLaysia Fulwiley in transition, LSU star Flau’jae Johnson elbowed South Carolina’s Ashlyn Watkins. Gamecocks star center Kamilla Cardoso then shoved the Tigers guard, causing an incident that resulted in multiple ejections.
During her post-game press conference, LSU head coach Kim Mulkey insinuated that the officials could have done more to control the game’s chippiness before the tension escalated.
“Do you realize there had been only one foul called when there were two minutes left?” Mulkey asked after the game, per SportsTalk Media Network. “The way we play? We’re going to foul your a–. They’re going to foul your a–. You only blew the whistle one time? That might have created some of that.”
Mulkey is referring specifically to the fourth quarter. While the refs let more go late in Sunday’s championship clash, they called 15 fouls on LSU and 16 on South Carolina.
The Tigers coach also ripped Cardoso for going after a smaller target in the 5’10” Johnson.
“No one wants to be a part of that. No one wants to see that ugliness. But I can tell you this, I wish she would have pushed Angel Reese,” Mulkey said, via FOX. “You’re 6’8″. Don’t push somebody that little. That was uncalled for in my opinion.”
Mulkey’s counterpart took a different approach. South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley apologized to everyone watching after the game.
“You know when you’re playing a championship game like this in our league things get heated,” Staley told ESPN in an on-court interview. “No bad intentions. Their emotions got so far ahead of them that sometimes these things happen. So I want to apologize for us playing a part in that, because that’s not who we are, and that’s not what we’re about.”