By STEPHEN HAWKINS AP Sports Author

DALLAS-- Alexis Morris scored 27 points and had two of her misses in the 4th quarter developed into putback baskets by Angel Reese in a big run as LSU rallied to beat top-seeded Virginia Tech, 79-72, in a national semifinal video game Friday night.

Reese completed with 24 points and 12 rebounds for LSU (33-2), which is going to the national championship game for the first time.

The win can be found in the second season given that tough and flamboyantly dressed Coach Kim Mulkey-- in a carnation pink top this time-- returned to her home state to take control of a Tigers program that lost 5 consecutive national semifinal games from 2004-08 the only other times they made it this far.

LSU will play Sunday against the winner of the South Carolina-Iowa semifinal.

Mulkey, who won 3 nationwide titles in four Final Four appearances over her 21 seasons at Baylor, is just the second coach to take two different groups to the national championship game. The other was C. Vivian Stringer, with Cheyney in the inaugural 1982 women's tournament and Rutgers in 2007.

Trailing 59-50 after three quarters, LSU went ahead with a 15-0 run over a five-minute period in the 4th duration. They led for the first time given that late in the first half when Falu'jae Johnson had a steal and drove for a layup to make it 64-62.

Reese had six points because game-turning spurt, consisting of a basket after Morris' 3-point shot clanked off the front rim. Reese had a second-effort follow of her own miss after rebounding another miss by Morris.

LaDazhia Williams included 16 points for LSU.

Elizabeth Kitley had 18 points and 12 rebounds for Virginia Tech (31-5), the ACC champ that remained in the Final Four for the first time. Georgia Amoore and Kayana Traylor each had 17 points, while Cayla King had 14.

Amoore set a record for the most 3-pointers in a single NCAA competition with 24, though she had a hard night shooting-- shooting 4 for 17 in general, including 4 for 15 from behind the arc. She passed Kia Nurse's record 22 embeded in the 2017 tourney for UConn, which lost in the national semifinals on the exact same court. Arizona's Aari McDonald had 22 in six NCAA tourney games two years earlier.

The huge run for LSU came right after Amoore made her last 3-pointer with 7:52 left for a 62-57 lead. The Hokies didn't make another basket until King's 3-pointer with 1:19 left.

Morris had opened the fourth quarter with a 3-pointer for LSU, then had a driving layup in a quick 7-0 run that triggered a timeout by Hokies coach Kenny Brooks.

The Hokies ended the first half with an 11-0 run to lead for the very first time, at 34-32 on Traylor's driving layup with 53 seconds left.

LSU went scoreless over the last 4:48 while missing its last six shots after Virginia Tech changed to a zone defense. That consisted of 3 misses by Reese, who had a late shot obstructed by Kitley.

Virginia Tech had routed for just 9 1/2 minutes integrated in its first four NCAA tournament video games, quickly the best mark by the four groups that made it to Dallas.

The Tigers led for 17:55 of the first half with the Hokies getting off to such a slow start shooting-- they missed 8 of their first nine shots-- that an LSU cheerleader had an assist even prior to they formally had a shot.

King was charged with a turnover on a ball that struck the rim and bounced over the top of the backboard and got stuck there. With support from officials and others at that end, a male cheerleader lifted a female cheerleader, who knocked the ball down.

More to come on this story.