Caitlin Clark

South Carolina's march to the national championship title seemed all but assured -- the defending champion and No.1 seed was on a 42-straight game win ...

How much I’ve grown on and off the court and then to be with this amazing program, LSU and then to be with my amazing teammates and amazing coaches. That’s a step in the right direction,” Mulkey added. One to someday hang a championship banner in the PMAC. “All we did is believe in each other,” Clark said on the ESPN broadcast after the game. 1 seed Virginia Tech, 79-72 and advance to its first national title game in program history, meaning that a new women’s NCAA national champion will be crowned on Sunday. It still hasn’t hit me that I’m at the Final Four, I’m just not even believing this right now,” Reese said after the game.

Caitlin Clark led the Iowa Hawkeyes past the reigning champion South Carolina Gamecocks to reach the 2023 women's national championship game.

The Gamecocks managed to stay in the game thanks to a dominant effort on the glass. With the Hawkeyes leading by two inside the final 30 seconds of regulation, McKenna Warnock hauled in a game-sealing offensive rebound after a missed 3-pointer from Clark. But Iowa actually led South Carolina for most of the Final Four matchup. And the reigning champs simply couldn't make Iowa pay, hitting just four of 20 3-point shots. 1 Virginia Tech in the other Final Four matchup to advance to their first national title game. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes knocked off the undefeated and defending champion No.

Women's NCAA Tournament - Iowa defeats undefeated South Carolina, soaring into first national championship game. Yahoo Sports women's college basketball ...

The Hawkeyes were confident in their game plan and star guard Clark to take down the undefeated reigning champ Gamecocks in the NCAA tournament.

'The Jordans are different. The Taurasis are different.' Clark showed she is too, defying another team's expert game plan to contain her.

Three years of Clark being the best player on the court in losses, lamenting that her team usually loses when she sets scoring records. When her team needed points down the stretch, Clark was the one to take every shot. It was a moment that threatened to unravel everything Iowa had worked for, the moment when the Gamecocks could have reasserted themselves as the favorites. You’re trying to do your best, and you’re putting your best defenders on her and she finds a way to score,” Iowa guard Kate Martin said. No matter who the Gamecocks put on her, Clark was able to blow by to get to the hoop. On the ensuing possession, the Gamecocks successfully walled off the fifth-year center, so a step-back 3-pointer from the logo was in order. [Louisville](https://theathletic.com/womens-college-basketball/team/louisville-cardinals/) in the Elite Eight. That meant Czinano was either rolling into open space if the frontcourt defender came up to the level of the screen, or attacking on the move, where her size disadvantage was mollified by her superb footwork. The first tactic was driving to the basket, knowing that the help was unlikely to come. They stayed home on Iowa’s shooters, trusting their guards and wings to contain Clark one-on-one as best as possible, and forcing the Hawkeyes to beat them with 2-pointers. [South Carolina](https://theathletic.com/womens-college-basketball/team/south-carolina-gamecocks/)’s defense has loomed for Iowa since the two schools were drawn in the same regional a year ago. Teams pressure her full court, rotate defenders to tire her out, throw traps at her, often running the full gamut of options to make life difficult for Clark, and for the

In the biggest matchup of her life, Iowa's dazzling point guard poured in 41 points to set a NCAA Tournament semifinal scoring record and put her Hawkeyes ...

Clark became the sixth player to score over 1,000 points in a season. Clark then scored another layup on the other end out of a timeout to make it a four-point game. The defense seemed to bamboozle the Gamecocks, who finished 4 for 20 from behind the 3-point line. Clark answered right back with two deep 3-pointers and an assist to Monika Czinano to give the Hawkeyes a 67-62 lead. You've got to give them a lot of credit," Clark said. Slowed by foul trouble, Boston had just eight points and 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes packed the paint, brazenly daring South Carolina to shoot from the outside. The game lived up to the hype surrounding it— the best player vs. Clark has created quite a stir since going to college in her home state. South Carolina got within 69-68 on Raven Johnson's 3-pointer before Clark got a steal for a layup with 3:32 left. She now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they've never been in before — one victory away from a national championship. I have all the confidence in the world in this group, and they believe right back in me, and that's all you need," Clark said. The last time the Hawkeyes advanced this far was 1993 under coach C.

The Iowa superstar scored 41 points in her second-straight NCAA tournament game.

Caitlin Clark and the Iowa women's basketball team are headed to the NCAA championship game on Sunday to face LSU (2:30 p.m., ABC).

Well, Clark apparently wanted to make it happen. Caitlin Clark and the Iowa women's basketball team are headed to the NCAA championship game on Sunday to face LSU (2:30 p.m., ABC). With an entertaining display of three-pointers, driving layups and on-court banter, there are plenty of highlights to pull from.

Caitlin Clark delivered an extraordinary performance against the reigning champions in what could turn out to be a landmark game for women's basketball.

Her work was done: She had scored or assisted on every single one of Iowa’s 18 points in the fourth quarter. she ran the gamut of who she is as a player,” Staley said. [her history-making 40-point triple double in the Elite Eight](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/03/27/caitlin-clark-iowa-final-four/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10) and her other exhibitions of [sheer offensive fabulosity](https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/03/14/caitlin-clark-iowa-ncaa-tournament/?itid=lk_inline_manual_10). She hit the 37-point mark on a read-and react dash to the rim and underhanded caress off the glass, to give the Hawkeyes a 73-69 edge with 1:19 to go. The Gamecocks’ combination of size, skill and relentless sweat during their unbeaten streak tended to make all other teams feel like they suddenly had to grow — do more than usual. “A lot of people don’t understand how hard it is to be at the top. There was a sense that a wholly unprecedented number of eyes were on the contest: The Elite Eight had drawn Clark carried perhaps a larger burden than any other individual performer, and that is no slight to anyone else on the floor. As she backpedaled triumphantly, every giddy lover of the game of basketball knew that Iowa was about to really do this thing, take down mighty South Carolina on its way to the NCAA championship game, and that it would happen through the hands of this flickeringly luminescent player. 3 defense and unbeaten defending champion behind the 2022 player of the year, post-occupier Aliyah Boston, and Iowa was the No. And it wasn’t just about the hunt for championship metal and crystal. DALLAS — Caitlin Clark passed the 30-point mark and headed toward yet another 40-plus on one of those classic “logo” threes, the sort of shot that will live on in the mind and make people lie through their popcorn-filled teeth years from now.

The sports world came out in full support for Clark, who dropped 41 points on South Carolina to lead Iowa to its first national championship game.

Caitlin one of those generational players. [April 1, 2023] I mean, she was everything that we saw on film. Numerous athletes lauded the newly minted National Player of the Year, from MVPs to All-Pros. Clark drew plenty of praise for her performance. To see a superstar put their stamp on the biggest game of the year is certain to inspire much reaction.

Clark finished with 41 points for the second straight NCAA tournament game, throwing her team on her back again, growing her legend all the same.

The team that beat Mississippi State to win the first national title in program history? According to ESPN Stats & Information research, she is the first player in NCAA tournament history with back-to-back 40-point games. 1 UConn lost in overtime in the national semifinals to Mississippi State, snapping a 111-game winning streak. Even as the Gamecocks made runs to challenge Iowa, the Hawkeyes never seemed to lose their grip on the game. She was the unquestioned star on the court, and South Carolina seemed helpless to keep up. Then the game started, and the most infallible team in the country looked ...