After the Iowa Hawkeyes upset the UConn Huskies 71-69 in the Final Four on Friday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Caitlin Clark’s incredible college basketball career will advance to the women’s NCAA championship game for the second straight year.
Clark finished with nine rebounds, seven assists, and twenty-one points. For the national title, the Hawkeyes play South Carolina, the overall top seed, on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC. The first semifinal was won by the Gamecocks (37-0) over NC State 78-59 on Friday.
Hannah Stuelke, a sophomore post player, led the Hawkeyes (33-4) in scoring with 23 points on 9 of 12 shots. This season, Clark has only trailed Iowa in scoring twice; on both occasions, Stuelke has taken the lead.
Iowa prevailed in the rebounding battle 38-30 thanks to the 11 points and 8 rebounds of senior guard Kate Martin.
After going 0-for-6 from long range in the first half, Clark’s hallmark 3-point shooting was off, and Iowa trailed 32-26 at the intermission. Clark finished with just 6 points on 3-of-11 shooting overall.
The Huskies’ strong defense was demonstrated in the first half, when the Hawkeyes committed 12 turnovers compared to 11 field goals. Iowa defeated West Virginia in the second round with a first-half point total of 26, which tied the team’s season low.
However, Iowa’s offense improved significantly in the second half; the Hawkeyes knotted the game at 51 points in the fourth quarter after scoring 25 points in that quarter. Iowa defeated UConn 20–18 in the fourth quarter, and Hawkeyes guard Gabbie Marshall’s crucial late offensive foul against Aaliyah Edwards sealed the win.
On April 15, the Indiana Fever are anticipated to select Clark with the first overall pick in the WNBA draft. The Fever, who have a strong youthful core but haven’t qualified for the postseason since 2016, meet Connecticut on May 14.
But first, Clark will take against South Carolina, who is vying for its third NCAA title, the team that Iowa defeated in the previous year’s Final Four. Iowa is vying for their first national championship after losing to LSU 102-85 in the previous year’s championship game.
After winning 11 titles, UConn was trying to make it to its 13th NCAA final. They lost to South Carolina in their most recent appearance in the NCAA championship game, which took place in 2022.
Hawkeyes Aim To Break With History
After placing second the previous season, Iowa is the ninth team in the history of the women’s NCAA tournament to return to the national championship game. Out of the previous eight, just two have triumphed, while the last four have suffered losses.
Paige Bueckers, a guard for UConn who entered the university in the same class as Clark but missed the previous year due to a knee injury, plans to return the following year to try and win her first national championship. UConn was paced by Edwards and Bueckers, both with 17 points on Friday.
With his current stats, Clark has 3,921 points, 1,139 assists, and 982 rebounds throughout his career. She became the first player in women’s basketball history to have more than 3,000 points and 1,000 assists during her senior year, and she also became Division I’s all-time top scorer for both men’s and women’s teams. With 1,204 points, she also owns the record for the most points in a season.
However, Clark’s influence on broadcast ratings and game attendance has also been used to gauge her career. In 2023–24, Iowa sold out every home game—as well as a number of away games—after drawing 55,646 spectators to the football team’s preseason game at Kinnick Stadium.
9.9 million people watched the 2023 national championship game on ABC, which included Clark. Then, in a rematch with LSU this past Monday, in the Elite Eight, Clark scored 41 points.
