“We talk about the big three at LSU,” LSU Women’s Basketball Head Coach Kim Mulkey said. “And they deserve every bit of it, but I think they’ll quickly tell you, what else can you write about them? Start writing about the other five, the other six, because this weekend…they were special.”

It takes everybody.

That has been the message for LSU Women’s Basketball this March Madness tournament. They have the big three, but it was Sa’Myah Smith and the guards off the bench who were the unsung heroes in Monday night’s 30-point victory over Florida State.

The first half was neck and neck, with Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson dropping 23 points. The Tigers could not defend her and made some costly turnovers, but they led by one going into the second half thanks to Jada Richard coming off the bench.

“We got in the locker room and we were just like, somebody’s gotta take it personal,” Richard said. I mean [Latson] scored I think, outscored the team in the first quarter. So we just got in the locker room as a team and just said somebody’s gotta take it personal. We know we can score, we know we can rebound, but we gotta defend.”

The Tigers majorly stepped up their defense in the second half, outscoring Florida State 51-22. Even when the starters were resting, the team did not miss a beat, with the bench players consistently figuring out ways to get the ball in position to score.

“Point guard play is really big, especially in March,” senior guard Shayeann Day-Wilson said. “We have three great players, ‘Neese, Flau’jae and ‘Kaylah, but you know they can’t do it all by themselves. Like Flau’jae said, we need all eight. The point guards just do the little stuff and kind of control the tempo and flow of the game.”

LSU racked up their season high number of assists with 29, 10 of which came from the bench.

The Tigers will now head to the Sweet 16, a game in which Mulkey says contributions from the bench mean more now than ever before. The team will face NC State, a team Mulkey says is better now than when LSU beat them in November.

However, she says LSU is a better team too.

LSU vs. NC State tips off in Spokane, WA at 6:30 p.m. CST.