March Madness: Flau'jae Johnson's monster game leads LSU past UCLA to advance to Elite Eight

Flau'jae Johnson led the way with 24 points and 12 rebounds as the LSU Tigers topped the UCLA Bruins 78-69 on Saturday to advance to the Elite Eight. Angel Reese contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds for her 15th straight double-double.

LSU, who will be playing in its 10th Elite Eight in program history, will face Iowa on Monday in Albany, New York, for a spot in the women's Final Four.

The matchup between the No. 2 seeded Bruins and No. 3 seeded Tigers was tight through the opening quarter. LSU built up a seven-point lead by halftime, but that evaporated with UCLA catching up and sending the game into the fourth quarter tied at 48.

UCLA briefly had a three-point lead in the fourth, but LSU finished strong, outscoring the Bruins 14-2 over the final 2:30 of the game. Johnson played a big role in closing out the Bruins with a big block down low with the Tigers leading by 1.

LSU would score the next six points after Johnson's second block of the game to create a cushion and finish off UCLA. She also scored five points and pulled down multiple key rebounds in the closing minutes.

"We're high right now off this dub, but we'll give ourselves until 4:30 p.m. and then we're locked into the next game," Johnson said afterward. "You've got to have that mindset going into the tournament. You've got to have a short attention span. That's the route that I'm taking.

"Yeah, I had a good game today, but now I've got flush it if we really want to go far in the tournament."

The Tigers are seeking their second straight NCAA title after defeating Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes last year in the championship game.