Iowa’s Caitlin Clark reacts after a 3-pointer during the second half of an NCAA women’s semifinal basketball game against South Carolina on Friday in Dallas.
Daron Cummings / AP
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Daron Cummings / AP
Iowa’s Caitlin Clark reacts after a 3-pointer during the second half of an NCAA women’s semifinal basketball game against South Carolina on Friday in Dallas.
Daron Cummings / AP
DALLAS – Caitlin Clark tossed the ball high in the air as the clock was ticking, gave a huge whoop to her adoring fans and then took off for an exhilarating run around the court.
In the biggest game of her life, the dazzling Iowa guard did it all — she scored 41 points to set a record for the highest-scoring NCAA semifinal, finished a perfect season at South Carolina, and most importantly set the Hawkeyes in the tournament game.
Clark overwhelmed the defending champions with another thrilling display from start to finish, helping Iowa snap the Gamecocks’ 42-game winning streak 77-73 Friday night in the Final Four.
“We have nothing to lose. I have all the confidence in the world in this group, and they believe in me directly, and that’s all you need,” Clark said. “All we do is believe in each other and love each other to death, and that’s what a real team is. If you want a team example, that’s what this is.”
The stunning youngster became the first player to make back-to-back 40-point performances in the NCAA Tournament. It now has the Hawkeyes where they’ve never been before – one win away from a National Championship.
They’ll have to beat another SEC team to do so as Iowa (31-6) will take on LSU in the title game on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers beat Virginia Tech in the other national semifinal.
It is the Tigers’ first appearance in the title game as Kim Mulkey becomes the second coach to take two different teams to the championship game.
“Love me some Caitlin Clark,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We’ve been talking about mission focus a lot this year, we had a game plan and those guys executed it really well. This is the South Carolina we just beat, folks. Amazing.”
Thanks to the compelling play of Clark and the historic year for South Carolina, this was one of the most talked about and highly anticipated games in Women’s Final Four history,
The game lived up to the hype that surrounded it – best player versus best team – much to the delight of the sell-out crowd of over 19,000 fans.
“Tonight showed how fun women’s basketball can be,” Clark said. “I’m sure some people wished this was a seven-game series.”
Coach Don Staley and South Carolina (36-1) continue to win since claiming the title last year.
“I don’t think we felt the pressure to win the game, we just didn’t play,” Staley said. “And that hasn’t been from us all season.”
“I don’t think our players felt pressure, any pressure other than wanting to win another basketball game,” she said.
This was Iowa’s first Final Four appearance in 30 years. The last time hockey advanced this far was in 1993 under head coach C.J. Vivian Stringer, whose team lost to Ohio State in overtime.
Clark wowed crowds that included Harper Streep, a young team cheerleader who was battling cancer. appeared in Surprise video which the Hawkeyes star reported was the AP Player of the Year.
Clark has been creating quite a stir ever since she attended college in her home state. She led the nation in scoring and this past weekend she had a game for the ages, hitting the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA history to lead the Hockey League to the Final Four.
Now she has more history on the cusp.
Trailing 59-55 entering the fourth quarter, South Carolina scored its first five points to take the lead. Right back Clark responded with two deep throws, a three-pointer and an assist by Monica Czignano to give the Hawkeyes a 67-62 lead.
South Carolina got within 69-68 on a Raven Johnson 3-pointer before Clark stole a layup with 3:32 left. Neither team scored again until star fouled Alia Boston with 1:37. She made the second of two free throws.
Clark then scored another layup on the other end after a timeout to make it four points. After a layup by Zia Cooke with 58 seconds left, the Hawkeyes ran the clock down with McKenna Warnock grabbing a huge offensive rebound from Clark’s foul with 18 seconds remaining.
Clark hit two free throws after South Carolina fouled them with 13.5 seconds left in the game. The points were 38 and 39, passing Ninka Ogomek the most in the Final Four semifinal match.
After a Johnson dip with 9.9 seconds left got the Gamecocks up 75-73, Clark closed out the game with two more free throws.
The loss ended a phenomenal season for the defending champion Gamecocks, who were trying to become the 10th team to go through an unbeaten season.
“It was physical. You have to give them a lot of credit,” Clark said. “It’s a great team, they’ve had a great year, they’re obviously a really good coach.”
Cook led the Gamecocks with 24 points. Slowed down by a bad problem, Boston only had eight points and 10 rebounds, as the Hawkeyes rallied the paint, and South Carolina brazenly daring a shot from the outside. The defense seemed to outwit the Gamecocks, who finished 4-for-20 from behind the 3-point line. They were unable to capitalize on their 49-25 rebounding edge which included 26 offensive boards.
Clark became just the sixth player to score more than 1,000 points in a season. She joins former Hawkeyes star Megan Gustafson, breaking her school mark of 1,001. Villanova’s Maddie Siegrist also reached the milestone this season. Kelsey Bloom, Jackie Styles, and Odyssey Sims were the others to do so.
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