Sweet 16 upset: LSU advances to Elite 8 after eliminating UCLA

ALBANY, N.Y. - It was a thriller in Albany, New York on Saturday afternoon as the Sweet 16 game between the UCLA Bruins and LSU Tigers came down to the wire. In the end, No. 3 seed LSU won against the No. 2 seed 78-69.

LSU led by seven points at halftime, but after making just two of their first 20 shots from 3-point range, the Bruins hit four of their next five.

The game had fans on the edges of their seats the entire fourth quarter and was tied at 60 with just under five minutes left on the clock. 

The Bruins gave everything they had in the battle as Gabriela Jaquez, Londynn Jones, Kiki Rice and Lauren Betts all ended in double figures.

In the game's final minutes, they simply had no answer for the Tigers' late push, with LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson leading her team to victory. Johnson finished the game with 24 points and 11 rebounds, which marked her 26th double-double of the season. Angel Reese also had 11 rebounds and had 16 points in the Sweet 16 matchup before she fouled out of the game.

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LSU now advances to the Elite 8 and will face either Iowa or Colorado in Monday night’s regional final.

"I’ve been focused, I’ve been in the gym, I’ve been locked in. Every day I’ve been in the gym," Johnson said in a post-game interview. "I know I gotta go extra hard so that’s what I’ve done. I’ve been in the gym."

Johnson also released a new single "AMF," an acronym for "Ain’t My Fault."

The game was played hours after The Washington Post released a much-anticipated story about LSU coach Kim Mulkey, over which she had threatened legal action, warning it would be a "hit piece." Instead, it was a profile highlighting both positive and negative aspects of her career and describing her as a colorful personality who "wears feathers almost as dramatically as she ruffles them."

The Pac-12 Conference made sure it didn't go away quietly in its final season. The onetime Conference of Champions led the way with five teams making the Sweet 16.

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The Bruins' crosstown rivals, the USC Trojans, take on Baylor on Saturday night. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This story was reported from Los Angeles.