The undefeated Gamecocks maintained a healthy lead in their earlier game against NC State tonight, paving the way for them to end the season 38-0 if they can secure the trophy Sunday.
And the Hawkeyes battled it out against UConn in a nail-biter that came down to the final milliseconds. Ultimately, all-time scorer Caitlin Clark — with plenty of help from Hannah Stuelke — led her team to the ultimate stage.
After the game Stuelke praised her teammates, who she said “did a great job getting me the ball.” “Caitlin here, she’s a great passer,” she said.
Clark said Iowa got off to a good start in the fourth quarter, “came up with some big baskets” and played “great offense.”
“Sometimes that’s just what you need to win, my teammates stepped up and did a really good job, made some great baskets when we needed it,” she said.
This is the weakest defensive team left, even when you account for Iowa’s fast pace. The Hawkeyes are 22nd in the country in defensive rating. They’ll be trying to win in spite of that, counting on simply outscoring their opponents more than shutting them down.
In This Tournament: Only West Virginia, in the second round, has been able to slow down Iowa’s offense, and that came on a night the Hawkeyes shot 5 of 22 from 3-point range. Clark had only three assists in that game.
Caitlin Clark: 13 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
Paige Bueckers: 14 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Both teams are relying on their starters with the bench players contributing 3 points for each team.
It’s a major comeback for Iowa, who trailed by 12 in the second quarter.
But UConn quickly scored to even it up again.
