Iowa Hawkeyes Sports

The officiating crew “won’t even listen,” Lisa Bluder said after Sunday’s loss to LSU in the national championship game.

Iowa got outplayed by LSU in the national championship game, and that’s that. But it doesn’t even begin to put any shade on such a sunny season.

Thousands gathered in Iowa City Sunday to watch history in the making, as Iowa and Louisiana State University met in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game. The watch party audience at Carver-Hawkeye Arena included casual fans and die-hards, all captivated by a team that has elevated the sport, the program and the university to unprecedented heights.

Jasmine Carson scored 16 of her team-high 22 points in a second-quarter rush, and ninth-ranked LSU raced past No. 3 Iowa, 102-85, for the NCAA women’s basketball title Sunday afternoon at American Airlines Center.

A new champion will be crowned Sunday as the Iowa Hawkeyes face the LSU Tigers in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game.

Heather Heddens’ high school heroics came on the court in the 1970s when girls played six-on-six basketball. The game changed to 5-on-5, full-court basketball in 1994, but the enthusiasm the sport stirs among Iowans remains the same.

Christine Grant wanted to be there “when” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder went to her first Final Four. Grant died in 2021, but a close friend found a way to symbolically bring her to Dallas.

LSU Coach Kim Mulkey on Iowa’s Caitlin Clark: “I've never seen a player — I don't like to use the word ‘never,’ but I don't know that I've ever seen a player that can do what Caitlin does.”