Iowa women’s basketball settles a score with LSU, returns to Final Four

ALBANY, N.Y. — Caitlin Clark couldn’t lose.

Final Four? Or the seat at the table for the U.S. Olympic tryouts?

“For me, it was like a win-win, I guess,” Clark said. “But more than anything, my focus is 100-percent on making Iowa really good.”

Clark added to her lore with 41 points and 12 assists, and Iowa finally got the best of Kim Mulkey in the postseason.

The second-ranked Hawkeyes topped No. 8 LSU, 94-87, in an NCAA women’s basketball tournament regional final Monday night at MVP Arena.

“We knew we weren’t going to be perfect,” Gabbie Marshall said. “It was going to be a battle, a tight, physical game.

“I’m just so happy right now.”

The Hawkeyes (33-4) avenged last year’s championship-game loss to LSU, and march on to the Final Four for the third time, the second consecutive year.

They’ll face No. 10 Connecticut (33-5) — an 80-73 winner over No. 3 USC — in a national semifinal Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

This wasn’t about revenge.

“We focus on Iowa, we do what Iowa does, and we'll come out on top,” Clark said. “It's not about last year. You worry too much about the past, you're going to get caught up in that.

“It's about being present, being where your feet are.”

Everybody’s national player of the year, Clark would have been at the Olympic tryouts next week had Iowa lost.

Instead, she spearheaded a second-half push that knocked out the champs.

“Caitlin is very skilled. She's a great player. She hit some tough shots,” LSU’s Hailey Van Lith said. “There's not a whole lot you can do about some of the 3s she hit.

“The team around her plays a role. Ultimately they played better than us, and that's what it was.”

Clark matched a career-high with nine 3-pointers in 20 tries. Four of them came in a 20-7 third-quarter rush that broke a 45-45 halftime tie, and the Tigers (31-6) were cooked.

“You've got to guard her. Nobody else seems to be able to guard her,” said Mulkey, who dropped to 3-1 against Iowa in the postseason.

“She's just a generational player, and she just makes everybody around her better. That's what the great ones do.”

Mulkey had a quick word with Clark in the postgame handshake line.

“What did I say to her?” Mulkey said. “I said, ‘I sure am glad you're leaving. Girl, you’re something else.’”

Iowa led 69-58 at the end of the third quarter. LSU got no closer than six the rest of the way.

Clark’s last 3-pointer made it 80-69 with 5:02 left, then Kate Martin followed with a dagger from the right baseline.

Martin added 21 points, Sydney Affolter 16.

There was talk last summer about LSU becoming a “super team” after adding Van Lith (from Louisville) and Aneesah Morrow (from DePaul) to an already-stacked roster.

But Iowa, truly, has a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

“I’m just extremely grateful for this group of young women we have,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “They're amazing.

“Everybody kept saying at the beginning of the year, ‘Iowa lost so much, they lost all this offense and two starters,’ and everybody kept focusing on that, and we kept focusing on what we had.”

Iowa opened ablaze, hitting 7 of 9 shots in the first four minutes, including 3 of 4 from long distance, for a 17-9 lead.

It was 26-21 when Clark converted a three-point play at the 3:29 mark of the first quarter, but Angel Reese ignited a 10-0 LSU run, and the Tigers led 31-26 after a quarter.

“We played to their pace,” Mulkey said. “We ended the first quarter with the lead, but I think their pace dictated that third quarter. I think it really hit us in the third quarter, that pace.”

LSU had a brief eight-point lead, but Iowa scored the next six, and it was a dogfight again.

The Hawkeyes had a pair of two-point leads, but Flau’jae Johnson’s bucket at the horn made it 45-45 at halftime.

Johnson paced LSU with 23 points, and Mikaylah Williams added 18. Reese scored 17, but fouled out on a charging call with 1:45 left.

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Hawkeyes give a rocking performance on a national stage behind megastar Caitlin Clark

Iowa 94, LSU 87

NCAA Regional Final, at Albany, N.Y.

LSU (87): Angel Reese 7-21 3-8 17, Aneesah Morrow 7-18 0-0 14, Flau'jae Johnson 10-18 2-2 23, Hailey Van Lith 2-10 4-4 9, Mikaylah Williams 6-16 2-2 18, Last-Tear Poa 2-5 0-1 6, Aalyah Del Rosario 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 34-88 11-17 87.

IOWA (94): Hannah Stuelke 3-5 2-3 8, Sydney Affolter 5-10 4-6 16, Kate Martin 8-16 4-4 21, Caitlin Clark 13-29 6-7 41, Gabbie Marshall 1-3 0-0 3, Addison O’Grady 2-5 1-2 5, Kylie Feuerbach 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Ediger 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor McCabe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-69 17-22 94.

LSU 31 14 13 29 — 87

Iowa 26 19 24 25 — 94

3-point goals: LSU 8-24 (Johnson 1-6, Van Lith 1-6, Williams 4-8, Poa 2-4), Iowa 13-31 (Affolter 2-3, Martin 1-5, Clark 9-20, Marshall 1-3). Team fouls: LSU 21, Iowa 15. Fouled out: Reese, Stuelke. Rebounds: LSU 54 (Reese 20), Iowa 36 (Clark 7). Assists: LSU 15 (Reese 4), Iowa 16 (Clark 12). Steals: LSU 6 (Reese 2), Iowa 6 (Martin, Clark, Marshall 2). Turnovers: LSU 13, Iowa 12.

Attendance: 13,888.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com