Iowa women’s basketball returns to national championship game with comeback win over UConn

CLEVELAND — Gabbie Marshall heard the whistle, and didn’t wait for the signal.

She knew.

“Yeah, I was sure,” she said. “She was moving. I was hyped.”

With Connecticut down a point in the dying seconds, Marshall was clipped by UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards, who was trying to spring Paige Bueckers open for the go-ahead basket.

That sequence helped preserve the second-ranked Hawkeyes’ 71-69 NCAA women’s basketball national-semifinal triumph over the No. 10 Huskies on Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“A really resilient, gritty win tonight,” Kate Martin said after the Hawkeyes (34-4) advanced to the championship game for the second straight year.

There, they will face No. 1 South Carolina (37-0), a 78-59 winner over No. 11 North Carolina State.

Tipoff is 2 p.m. (CT) Sunday.

Iowa overcame a 12-point first-half deficit, got even by the end of the third quarter, built a nine-point lead, then held on for dear life.

“I couldn’t be happier with our performance tonight in the second half,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “We really kept believing, and I'm just so proud of the character of these young women to maintain their composure through some pretty tough times in the first half.

“I thought Hannah Stuelke was amazing tonight.”

A sophomore from Cedar Rapids, Stuelke led all scorers with 23 points, on 9-of-12 shooting.

“I was more aggressive than I have been,” Stuelke said. “Just mentally, I was more aggressive.”

Caitlin Clark added 21 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

With the game knotted, 51-51, heading to the final quarter, Iowa scored the first five points and maintained the lead the rest of the way.

Marshall’s shot, with a foot on the 3-point stripe, with 5:42 remaining gave the Hawkeyes a 66-57 cushion.

Then it got chaotic.

Iowa led 70-64 with less than 2 minutes left. Edwards’ basket got the Huskies (33-6) within four points. Then, after the Hawkeyes turned it over, Nika Muhl nailed a 3-pointer with 0:39 left to make it 70-69.

The Hawkeyes turned it over again, leading to the fateful call on Edwards.

Bueckers was dribbling to the far right side, with Marshall in pursuit. Edwards moved to her left and collided with Marshall.

Whistle, with 0:03.9 left. Offensive foul.

Clark was fouled immediately with 3.1 seconds left. She made the first free throw, then missed the second.

Sydney Affolter got the offensive rebound and was tied up, with the alternate-possession arrow pointing Iowa’s way.

“You have to have the mentality when anybody is at the free-throw line, even Caitlin, that they’re going to miss it,” Affolter said. “I had the mentality that she was going to miss, and I was going to go get that ball.”

Then it was just a matter of inbounding, then celebrating. Iowa did both.

The Hawkeyes won their 11th straight game.

“I think everybody's confidence has been at an all-time high throughout the Big Ten tournament and during the NCAA tournament,” Clark said. “And that's how it needs to be and that's the reason we're at this point.

“Everybody is stepping up. It’s not just me. That's not what this is. Everybody comes up and makes really big plays when we need them.”

The Hawkeyes committed 12 turnovers in the first half, and faced a 28-16 deficit midway through the second quarter. They were within 32-26 by halftime.

“We were down six at half to a really good team, and we hadn’t played our best basketball,” Martin said. “When our offense wasn’t flowing, we found other ways to win.”

Martin added 11 points for the Hawkeyes.

Edwards and Bueckers scored 17 points apiece for UConn. K.K. Arnold added 14.

Iowa 71, Connecticut 69

NCAA National Semifinal, at Cleveland

CONNECTICUT (69): Aaliyah Edwards 8-15 1-2 17, K.K. Arnold 6-10 1-1 14, Paige Bueckers 7-17 0-0 17, Nika Muhl 3-7 0-0 9, Ashlynn Shade 2-8 0-0 5, Ice Brady 3-6 1-1 7. Totals 29-63 3-4 69.

IOWA (71): Hannah Stuelke 9-12 5-7 23, Sydney Affolter 3-7 1-2 8, Kate Martin 5-11 0-0 11, Caitlin Clark 7-18 4-5 21, Gabbie Marshall 2-9 0-0 5, Kylie Feuerbach 1-2 0-0 3, Addison O’Grady 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor McCabe 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-59 10-14 71.

Connecticut 19 13 19 18 — 69

Iowa 14 12 25 20 — 71

3-point goals: UConn 8-25 (Arnold 1-4, Bueckers 3-8, Muhl 3-6, Shade 1-5, Brady 0-2), Iowa 7-25 (Affolter 1-1, Martin 1-4, Clark 3-11, Marshall 1-7, Feuerbach 1-2). Team fouls: UConn 18, Iowa 9. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: UConn 29 (Edwards 8), Iowa 37 (Clark 9). Assists: UConn 21 (Muhl 7), Iowa 12 (Clark 7). Steals: UConn 15 (Edwards, Arnold 5), Iowa 7 (Affolter, Martin, Clark 2). Turnovers: UConn 14, Iowa 16.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com