South Carolina denies Iowa in NCAA women’s basketball final, completes a 38-0 season

CLEVELAND — South Carolina was quite a bit bigger. A whole lot deeper.

And a little bit better.

The Gamecocks proved their No. 1 ranking and completed a perfect season, pulling away late from No. 2 Iowa, 87-75, in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament final Sunday afternoon at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

“South Carolina is so good,” said Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, who concluded a remarkable, record-breaking career with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists. “There's only so much you can do.”

The Gamecocks (38-0) captured their third national championship (2017, 2022, 2024), and won for the 80th time in the last 81 games. The lone defeat in that run was a 77-73 loss to Iowa in the 2023 national semifinals.

Sunday, they were bigger, deeper, better. And hungry.

“I did want to see them in the national championship this year because what happened last year,” South Carolina guard Raven Johnson said. “It was an apology to my teammates, my coaches and myself.

“There's no better way than to play them in the championship and beat them.”

South Carolina prevailed due to marked advantages in rebounds (51-29), second-chance points (30-16) and bench points (37-0).

“They played nine people in double figures (for minutes). We had six,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “Just to have those extra fouls and extra legs.

“And not only their depth, their height. I'm not just talking about their centers. They're really pretty big at every position, which makes it hard.”

Hannah Stuelke said, “They O-boarded like crazy. (Kamilla) Cardoso had 5 inches on me. Even if I box her out, she’s going to get hers.”

The 6-foot-7 Cardoso got hers, for sure — 15 points and 17 rebounds.

“She’s an amazing player,” Iowa’s Sydney Affolter said. “Of course, it’s hard to touch 6-7.”

And the Gamecocks got theirs; they are the 10th team in NCAA history to go undefeated.

Iowa (34-5) couldn’t make a fast start stick, and is the runner-up for the second straight year. The Hawkeyes fell to LSU, 102-85, in the 2023 title game.

The Hawkeyes scored the first 10 points of the game and led 20-9 at the midpoint of the opening quarter.

“We were well-prepared,” Iowa’s Gabbie Marshall said. “Coach told us to play free and loose, and that’s what we did.”

Clark had 18 points by the end of the first quarter, and Iowa led 27-20.

From that point on, most of the big moments belonged to South Carolina.

Cardoso’s basket gave the Gamecocks their first lead, 36-34, with 4:56 left in the second quarter, and they held a 49-46 advantage at the end of a highly entertaining first half.

Iowa never led again.

South Carolina limited the Hawkeyes to 5-of-17 shooting in the third quarter and pushed its advantage to 68-59 behind a pair of 3-pointers by Tessa Johnson.

The largest margin was 76-62 on Cardoso’s putback with 7:45 to go.

Iowa got within 80-75 on Affolter’s three-point play with 4:13 left, but the Hawkeyes didn’t score again.

“With someone like Caitlin, a five-point lead versus Iowa is nothing,” South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley said. “When there was a timeout called, you could hear all of the players, all of them, just talk about how we needed to have stops.”

Four Gamecocks scored in double figures, led by Tessa Johnson’s 19 points.

Clark concludes her career with 3,951 points, most in NCAA history.

Kate Martin added 16 points for the Hawkeyes, Affolter scored 12, Stuelke 11.

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Caitlin Clark leaves Iowa her way, battling with her head held high

South Carolina 87, Iowa 75

NCAA National Final, at Cleveland

IOWA (75): Hannah Stuelke 4-8 3-5 11, Sydney Affolter 4-8 3-3 12, Kate Martin 5-13 5-6 16, Caitlin Clark 10-28 5-6 30, Gabbie Marshall 2-3 0-0 6, Addison O’Grady 0-2 0-0 0, Kylie Feuerbach 0-1 0-0 0, Molly Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Taylor McCabe 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Ediger 0-0 0-0 0, Sharon Goodman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-63 16-20 75.

SOUTH CAROLINA (87): Chloe Kitts 5-8 1-2 11, Kamilla Cardoso 7-14 1-5 15, Te-Hina Paopao 4-7 3-4 14, Bree Hall 3-6 0-0 7, Raven Johnson 1-11 1-2 3, Ashlyn Watkins 1-1 1-2 3, Tessa Johnson 7-11 2-2 19, Sania Feagin 3-5 0-0 6, MiLaysia Fulwiley 4-10 0-0 9, Sakima Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 35-73 9-17 87.

Iowa 27 19 13 16 -- 75

South Carolina 20 29 19 19 -- 87

3-point goals: Iowa 9-23 (Affolter 1-3, Martin 1-4, Clark 5-13, Marshall 2-3), South Carolina 8-19 (Paopao 3-4, Hall 1-2, R. Johnson 0-4, T. Johnson 3-6, Fulwiley 1-3). Team fouls: Iowa 14, South Carolina 17. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Iowa 29 (Clark 8), South Carolina 51 (Cardoso 17). Assists: Iowa 13, (Clark 5), South Carolina 16 (Fulwiley 4). Steals: Iowa 6 (Affolter, Marshall 3), South Carolina 8 (R. Johnson 4). Turnovers: Iowa 9, South Carolina 13.

Attendance: 18,300.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com