FINAL FOUR! Hawkeyes whip Louisville, 97-83. Next stop: Dallas

SEATTLE — On her biggest stage yet, in her biggest game yet, Caitlin Clark was at her best ever.

Clark recorded the first 30-point triple-double in NCAA women’s basketball tournament history, and took it even further than that.

She collected 41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists, leading Iowa to the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four.

The third-ranked Hawkeyes whipped Louisville, 97-83, in the Seattle Region 4 final Sunday night at Climate Pledge Arena.

“A lot of people told me (the Final Four) would never happen when I came here,” Clark said. “But (Coach Lisa Bluder) believed in me, and that was really all that mattered.

“We made our locker room believe, and when you dream and work really hard, a lot of really cool things can happen.”

It doesn’t come any cooler than this.

The Hawkeyes (30-6) reached the 30-win plateau for the first time in school history and advanced to the Final Four for the second.

They’ll face No. 1 South Carolina (35-0) or No. 6 Maryland (28-6) in a national semifinal at American Airlines Center in Dallas on Friday.

“It is like a storybook, but it's kind of been like that for us all year long,” Bluder said. “We keep talking about destiny and how it's supposed to happen, and it is happening.

“But I'm so happy for Caitlin. I can remember sitting in her living room and her saying, ‘I want to go to a Final Four.’ And I'm saying, ‘We can do it together.’ And she believed me.”

Iowa’s magical time, as it was in the previous round against Colorado, came early in the third quarter.

Louisville (26-12) scored the first two baskets of the second half, but McKenna Warnock outfought everybody under the glass for a loose ball, then located Gabbie Marshall alone on the perimeter, and Marshall drilled the 3-pointer.

Warnock scored inside on the next possession, then Clark converted from outside to make it 56-47 and induce a Cardinals timeout.

Marshall hit another long ball to extend the margin to 59-47, and suddenly, Dallas didn’t seem so far away.

Clark, of course, was named the regional’s Most Outstanding Player. She was joined on the all-tournament team by Monika Czinano and Warnock, along with Louisville’s Hailey Van Lith and Colorado’s Frida Formann.

Warnock scored 17 points Sunday, Marshall 14.

“The game was kind of like my season,” Marshall said. “I was 0-for-3 (from 3-point range) in the first half, but my mechanics were good, and my teammates told me to keep shooting.”

The Hawkeyes put it away with a 11-0 run late in the quarter and took a 78-59 advantage to the fourth.

Iowa led by as many as 22 points on two occasions.

Louisville landed the first punch, an 8-0 jab fueled by six points from Van Lith, who led the Cardinals with 27 points.

But Clark scored seven in a row in 50 seconds, on a drive, a steal and layup, and a 3-pointer to get the Hawkeyes right back in it.

Clark hit back-to-back 3-pointers to give Iowa its first lead, 20-18, at the 2:14 mark of the first quarter.

She had 15 points and four assists at the quarter break, and scored or assisted on Iowa’s first 30 points.

In the process, she became the first player in Division-I history to amass 900 points and 300 assists in a season.

The outcome was a very bright moment in a bittersweet day for Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen, whose father Dale died Sunday morning.

Iowa 97, Louisville 83

NCAA Tournament Regional Final, at Seattle

LOUISVILLE (83): Nyla Harris 0-2 0-0 0, Olivia Cochran 7-11 6-6 20, Chrislyn Carr 4-9 0-0 11, Mykasa Robinson 5-13 0-0 10, Hailey Van Lith 8-19 8-10 27, Merissah Russell 1-6 1-2 4, Liz Dixon 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Jones 4-8 0-0 8, Nonika Konno 1-2 0-0 3, Josie Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Alexia Mobley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 30-70 15-18 83.

IOWA (97): McKenna Warnock 6-10 2-4 17, Monika Czinano 2-2 5-6 9, Kate Martin 2-5 0-0 6, Caitlin Clark 11-19 11-13 41, Gabbie Marshall 5-12 1-1 14, Hannah Stuelke 5-12 1-1 14, Hannah Stuelke 2-3 2-4 6, Molly Davis 0-2 0-0 0, Sydney Affolter 1-1 2-2 4, Addison O’Grady 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 29-54 23-30 97.

Louisville 21 22 16 24 -- 83

Iowa 25 23 30 19 -- 97

3-point goals: Louisville 8-22 (Cochran 0-1, Carr 3-6, Van Lith 3-9, Russell 1-4, Konno 1-2), Iowa 16-35 (Warnock 3-7, Martin 2-4, Clark 8-14, Marshall 3-9, Davis 0-1). Team fouls: Louisville 24, Iowa 19. Fouled out: Robinson, Russell, Czinano. Rebounds: Louisville 32 (Cochran 14), Iowa 33 (Clark 10). Assists: Louisville 14 (Robinson 5), Iowa 20 (Clark 12). Steals: Louisville 9 (Carr, Robinson, Jones 2), Iowa 11 (Marshall 4). Turnovers: Louisville 14, Iowa 17.

Attendance: 11,700.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com