More than anyone else, LSU’s championship team belonged to 5th-year senior Alexis Morris

DALLAS — How did they do it? How did an LSU women’s basketball team with nine new faces coalesce into a national champion?

Having Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey was a good place to start. Bringing in an All-American like Angel Reese, who exploded into a cultural phenomenon, was another huge piece.

But the 2021-22 Tigers were Alexis Morris’ team, perhaps more than any other player.

In a most convincing fashion, LSU grabbed the NCAA championship trophy that eluded the program in the mid-2000s, earning it with a 102-85 victory over Iowa in the title game Sunday afternoon.

For a while, it looked as if Jasmine Carson was going to usurp Morris’ role as the force of victory with her 21-point first-half outburst, raining in 3s like they were the postgame confetti cannons.

In the end, it was Morris, the three-time transfer from Beaumont, Texas, who finished off the Hawkeyes, who had cut LSU’s 17-point halftime lead to seven, 69-62.

Morris took over in the fourth quarter, sinking all six of her shots — mostly on her patented pull-up jumpers — and a pair of free throws to finish with 21 points.

Morris also spent most of the night defending Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark. Mulkey credited her with keeping Clark away from the basket and shooting layups. Clark, the Associated Press national player of the year, hit only one shot inside the 3-point arc.

It was Morris’ team, her game and her season. Just as she’d hoped on senior night Feb. 26 back in Baton Rouge, she wanted to have her real senior night in her home state.

“Lex, she’s a first-rounder,” Reese said. ”She gets into a mode where she’s unstoppable at some point. She played a great defensive game. It wasn’t all her defense. It was her offense.”

Morris, a fifth-year senior, has been the team’s heart and soul since the season began. As the only returning starter, she thought of herself as an assistant coach, the leader on the floor, and her offseason proved it. Despite a slight build, she lost 15 pounds and added muscle, which served her well in her final fourth quarter.