Caitlin Clark got 41 points under her belt and had 12 assists to her name as Iowa knocked defending national champion LSU out of the women’s NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory on Monday night, thus reaching their second straight Final Four.
“This one probably feels a little bit better. It’s my senior year, with this group,” The Guardian quoted Clark as saying in a post-match ceremony.
“A lot of people counted us out at the beginning of the year with the people we lost. And all we did was work really hard. To get back here is really hard. This regional was loaded with so much talent. The job’s not finished,” she added.
Top-seeded Iowa (33-4) will play in the national semi-finals on Friday night in Cleveland.
Monday’s eagerly awaited showdown was a repeat of last year’s national championship game, clinched by LSU, which attracted a staggering 9.9 million viewers. Both teams expressed a desire for this encounter to occur later in the tournament, rather than with a Final Four spot on the line, but unfortunately, that was beyond their control.
Both Clark of Angel Reese of the LSU put on a memorable show for the sold-out crowd and the millions watching.
After an engaging first half left the game deadlocked at 45-45, Clark dominated the third quarter. As the NCAA Division I’s leading scorer of all time, she drained four consecutive three-pointers, each shot from a greater distance than the last. Her fourth three-pointer of the quarter, launched from her trademark logo range, extended the lead to 61-52.
This remarkable shot also marked her 538th career three-pointer, propelling her to the top of the all-time leaderboard in this category among NCAA Division I players, surpassing Oklahoma’s Taylor Robertson.
Flau’jae Johnson scored 23 points for LSU (31-6), who fell short of becoming the first repeat champion since UConn in 2016. Reese ended the match with 17 points and 20 rebounds before fouling out with 1:45 left.
Iowa surged ahead to 65-52 before LSU managed to score six consecutive points. Despite this effort, the Tigers found themselves trailing 69-58 as they entered the fourth quarter. However, they quickly narrowed the deficit by scoring the first five points of the final quarter, bringing the score to 69-63.
They couldn’t narrow the gap any further, as Clark refused to allow the Hawkeyes to falter. Her ninth three-pointer, matching the NCAA record for the most in a tournament game, extended their lead to 80-69 with 5:05 remaining.
“We really knew it was on the defensive end. We knew we were going to be able to be fine on offense,” said Clark, who was named the region’s Most Outstanding Player.
“We’ve been fine on offense all year. I think it was just getting stops and being physical. They rebounded the ball really well, but we weathered every storm. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit. They had a great year.”
Clark has already declared for this year’s WNBA draft. Reese, too, will have a decision to make about whether to turn pro or come back with one more season.
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