N.C.A.A. Women's Tournament: Final Four Live: Iowa Downs South Carolina in Tournament Classic (Published 2023) (2024)

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Iowa, behind Caitlin Clark, delivers a toppling upset of South Carolina.

On Friday night, Clark and Iowa managed to do what no other team has done, downing South Carolina, 77-73, to make their way to the program’s first championship game — delivering the upset of all upsets in a March that has been filled with them.

South Carolina, before the tournament began, had been the odds-on favorite to win another championship, to burnish the program’s claim to be the newest dynasty in women’s college basketball.

Instead it was Iowa, perhaps understandably, that celebrated like it had won the championship when the game was over. Clark, who finished with 41 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds, ran around the arena with a hand to her ear before stopping and raising both of her arms as Iowa’s white-knuckled fans roared. The team hugged and cheered at midcourt, and the players sang the school’s fight song with fans.

One fan during the game prominently waved a sign that read, “In Clark we trust.”

“Everybody in America picked South Carolina, and deservedly so,” Clark said, adding: “But at the same time, the people in our locker room believed in us, and that’s all you need is a belief in one another.”

Iowa will play Louisiana State in the title game on Sunday afternoon. The third-seeded Tigers advanced to their first N.C.A.A. final in program history with a 79-72 win over Virginia Tech earlier Friday night. Louisiana State pulled away late in a mostly back-and-forth game thanks to a one-two punch of Angel Reese and Alexis Morris that proved too much for the Hokies.

Reese produced her 33rd double-double this season, tying an N.C.A.A. record, with 24 points and 12 rebounds; Morris led all scorers with 27 points.

As that game ended, the American Airlines Center quickly filled for what many fans and observers of the sport considered the main event. Spectators wearing black, gold and garnet were here to see the most anticipated college basketball matchup in either N.C.A.A. Division I Final Four, with the stifling, unbeaten South Carolina team against Clark, who was widely considered the player of the year.

“Tonight showed how fun women’s basketball is,” Clark said. “I’m sure so many people wish this was a series of seven. That would be really, really fun.”

For much of the first half, Iowa dominated South Carolina, and got its star forward, Aliyah Boston, into early foul trouble. She played just eight minutes and was scoreless in the first half, but Iowa led by only 1 at the break, mostly because of South Carolina’s relentless depth. The lead seemed like it would evaporate quickly with Boston back in the second half.

Iowa’s strategy of a zone defense, dropping Clark from the top of the zone and on to Boston or any post player that got the ball, proved to be effective. Clark’s help defense and center Monika Czinano’s physicality forced 15 South Carolina turnovers. On the offensive end, Iowa picked apart South Carolina’s defense with pick-and-roll plays, mostly featuring Clark and Czinano. The Gameco*cks struggled to defend the play, often leaving one of the two wide open. Czinano finished with 18 points.

South Carolina’s guards struggled to take advantage of Iowa’s defenders sagging so deeply off them. Many spectators yelled at the guards to “shoot the ball,” but often, when they did, they missed. South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley rotated in different players throughout the game, including Raven Johnson, Bree Hall, Kierra Fletcher and Olivia Thompson. But nothing seemed to be effective, at least for long.

“They were doing the same thing that every other team has done to us this season,” Fletcher said through tears. “So I definitely think we beat ourselves.”

The only guard that could score reliably was Zia Cooke, who used her speed and crafty dribble moves to score 24 points and keep the Gameco*cks in the game. Boston, Cooke and Brea Beal have been the core of South Carolina’s dominance over the past four seasons.

Many of the seniors can return to South Carolina next season because the N.C.A.A. granted players an extra year of eligibility due to the coronavirus pandemic. But the W.N.B.A. draft also awaits, with Boston widely considered to be the top selection.

Boston said she was undecided about the draft but seemed to pass the mantle of team leader to Johnson, and said that when the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, it felt like “the end of an era.”

“After the game, I said to her, ‘This is your team,’” Boston said. “You’ve been in the system for two years now, people are going to be looking up to you for that leadership role.”

Staley said that she would tell Boston to go to the draft.

“There are defenses that played against her that won’t allow her to play her game,” she said, “and it’s hard to officiate that. She’s great. She’s ready.”

Iowa’s focus throughout the game was palpable. The players held a calm confidence. While the team frequently talks about the impact of the crowd, it could have been playing in an empty stadium. The players were glued on one another, on the ball, on their coaches, on the clock.

Even with a 4-point lead with 13 seconds left, Iowa held off on celebrating. They stayed similarly quiet with a 4-point lead and 2.9 seconds left. There was no premature celebration. They were facing a giant.

And then it happened. Iowa took down one of college basketball’s juggernauts, a team for whom a championship trophy seemed to be a formality. The stadium erupted. Iowa’s fandom had traveled around the nation to see this happen. They proudly recreated their home arena — Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City — as they had in Seattle during their team’s two regional games. Dallas had become Carver South.

In Iowa’s locker room after the game, players said they never had any doubt about the final result. “I feel like we were going to win the whole time,” said Jada Gyamfi, a freshman.

“We’re here for a reason,” she added. “We’re not a Cinderella story.”

Now the team has to reset. It celebrated in the locker room, but only briefly, center Sharon Goodman said. The Hawkeyes have another game on Sunday. They need to recover and refuel. They need to watch tape and get back to practice.

“We didn’t come this far just to play in the national championship game,” Clark said. “We’re here to win it.”

Remy Tumin contributed reporting.

Though the Iowa fans are going exactly nowhere. The stands are still very full of black and gold.

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And she’s hit 41 points again.

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At this rate, Clark may be able to match the 41 points that she scored in Iowa’s last game against Louisville.

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South Carolina isn’t used to being down after 3 quarters.

With under two minutes to go, Raven Johnson sunk 3-pointer to bring the Gameco*cks close. Zia Cooke tried to tie the game but fumbled the ball during the team’s last possession, allowing Clark to take her time to find the Monika Czinano open with a fadeaway shot to end the quarter.

South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley told ESPN before the start of the fourth quarter that her team needed to get the ball to Boston more often. “We’re all right, though,” she said.

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It’s Cooke vs. Clark as Iowa leads by 1 at halftime.

Iowa did well to keep cool during the Gameco*cks’ run. The starting five for the Hawkeyes — Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano, Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and McKenna Warnock — have been together for three years. But to keep the undefeated Gameco*cks from taking control of this game, they’ll have to be nearly perfect. Boston played for only 8 minutes in the first half. The star guard will likely be coming on full force in the second.

Either way, South Carolina also got big contributions from its bench, especially when it came to defending against Clark.

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Hawkeye Nation is here at ‘Carver South.’

When Iowa isn’t playing at home at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, the fans recreate the arena for them.

They had already traveled to Minneapolis for the Big Ten tournament to establish Carver North. In Seattle for the round of 16 and round of 8, they formed Carver West. Once they advanced to the Final Four, the fandom got back in cars and planes to occupy Carver South.

They were wearing all wearing their team colors, most with T-shirts that referenced top players. One said “Happy Like Hannah” for Hannah Stuelke; another had Gabbie Marshall’s name next to bold letters declaring “Pretty Eyes. Defender. Sniper.” Fans of McKenna Warnock wore shirts that said “Work like Warnock,” and another advertised the “Law Offices of Czinano and Clark” for the on-court partnership of Monika Czinano and Caitlin Clark.

There were fans like Lana Kuiper Smith and Jodi Keating, who called themselves “wine Wednesday” friends, who decided to drive from Iowa to Dallas last minute. The drive wasn’t bad, Keating said, only 11 hours. Smith, holding a glass of red wine, nodded in agreement.

“These Hawkeye fans travel, and they show up,” Julie Fitzpatrick said. “You feel a home-court advantage.”

She would know. The wife of the Iowa associate coach Jan Jensen has seen the evolution of the fandom since Jensen joined the team 23 seasons ago. She could barely finish a sentence without getting a hug or a high five.

“My whole neighborhood is here,” she said.

Caitlin Clark has 19 points and 6 assists, and Zia Cooke has 18 points and 5 rebounds. Aliyah Boston played just 8 minutes.

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And there’s a 3-pointer from Clark to take the lead back.

And Clark just went to the scorer’s table to sub back in. That lasted all of 15 seconds. She’ll be back in the game after this timeout.

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Iowa jumps to a first-quarter lead behind a good defensive strategy.

Outside of Zia Cooke, South Carolina’s guards could not take advantage of defenders sagging so deeply off them. The struggles forced South Carolina Coach Dawn Staley to try different players throughout the period, including Raven Johnson, Bree Hall and Kierra Fletcher. But nothing seemed to be effective as the Gameco*cks finished the quarter down, 22-13.

Cooke used speed and crafty dribble moves to get open, scoring 9 of the Gameco*cks first 11 points, but Iowa responded every time she scored. Clark led all scorers in the period with 11 points, and added four assists.

And Boston goes to the bench with her second foul.

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South Carolina’s bench is unrelenting.

“It is hard playing against them for 40 minutes and having to be so physical,” U.C.L.A.’s Coach Cori Close said, with disappointment and exasperation in her voice after a round-of-16 loss. “Obviously they have great length, and they’re super tall and big.”

South Carolina’s bench has the most points (1,269) scored in Division I, over 200 more than the next closest team. The bench is headlined by Kamilla Cardoso, a 6-foot-7 center who was the Atlantic Coastal Conference’s freshman of the year before transferring to South Carolina two seasons ago. Cardoso had one of the most notable highlights of this year’s tournament when she chased down and blocked U.C.L.A. guard Londynn Jones, sending Jones flying to the gym floor.

The Gameco*cks’ bench also features guard Raven Johnson, who was the No. 2 player in her high school class, and the quick, 6-foot-4 forward Laeticia Amihere.

“It’s extremely difficult,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said, adding: “When you’re bringing off 6-7 and 6-3 and another point guard to a backup point guard to another wing to the size that you have inside.”

“It’s a big reason obviously why they’re undefeated and why they’re the defending national champions.”

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L.S.U. clinches its spot in the championship game with a speedy rally against Virginia Tech.

“It’s like a dream, it still hasn’t hit me that I’m at the Final Four,” Reese said. “It’s crazy how much my life has changed in one year.”

“All we had was each other,” she added.

Virginia Tech tried but failed to stop the onslaught. With 30 seconds left, Reese gave her signature nod of confidence to the crowd, who responded in kind with cheers. The sophom*ore guard had her 33rd double-double of the season, which tied the N.C.A.A. Division I record, scoring 24 points and 12 rebounds after a slow start especially on the boards.

L.S.U., a No. 3 seed that had also knocked off second-seeded Utah earlier in this tournament, will face the winner of No. 1 seed South Carolina and No. 2 seed Iowa on Sunday afternoon in the national championship game.

The Hokies, a top-seeded team that still treated itself like an underdog throughout March, had already accomplished a first for the program by making it this far in the tournament and looked well on its way to the championship game before L.S.U.’s comeback.

They outscored the Tigers in the second and third quarter with help from Elizabeth Kitley, who led the team with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Georgia Amoore, who set an N.C.A.A. tournament record for 3-pointers, hitting her 23rd in the third quarter. She scored 17 points by the end of the game, mostly with 3-pointers. Kayana Traylor, who had 17 points, sparked the Hokies in the second and third quarters in the moments when it looked like they could turn the game into a rout.

“I’m extremely proud of this group, not only because of what they accomplished on the court but how they conduct themselves on the court, how they conduct themselves in our community,” Virginia Tech Coach Kenny Brooks said. “This is the best year of basketball that I’ve ever had in my life.”

Amoore, a junior, said she played her “heart out.”

The Tigers started the game in control only to trail off in the second and third as Amoore got hot from the 3-point line and the Hokies settled into an easy rhythm. But the Hokies began to run out of gas heading into the fourth quarter. Reese, along with Alexis Morris and Flau'jae Johnson, combined to attack the Hokies from inside and outside with strong shooting and rebounding. L.S.U. converted 22 points from rebounds and scored 54 points in the paint, compared with 14 for Virginia Tech.

L.S.U. Coach Kim Mulkey said after the game that she had to challenge her team “with a sense of urgency” going into the fourth quarter and told them “to play as if they had two minutes to play.”

“You gotta come out smoking and on fire, you gotta play like you’re never going to play again,” she said.

It worked.

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Virginia Tech gains confidence in the third quarter.

She may not have known that she had just set the N.C.A.A. tournament record for 3-pointers. Amoore was likely more focused on keeping her team on top. She had just brought the score to 46-37.

Virginia Tech is a No. 1 seed, sure, but its opponent has grabbed many headlines, behind L.S.U. Coach Kim Mulkey and the star forward Angel Reese. The Hokies have never advanced this far in the tournament; this marks the sixth time the Tigers have played in the Final Four.

But what Virginia Tech players may have lacked in late tournament play, they make up in confidence. When the Hokies increased their lead to 12 points, the fan section hit a fever pitch. Kayana Traylor led Virginia Tech with 8 points, 4 rebounds and 1 assist in the third quarter.

They outscored the Tigers 25-18 to finish the quarter with a 9 point lead.

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Virginia Tech takes a 2-point lead into halftime.

That drive was led by Kayana Traylor, a senior guard, whose breakaway steal late in the quarter began the Hokies’ rally; she hit a 3-pointer moments later to close the gap to 2 points. With less than a minute to go, her jump shot gave the Hokies the lead.

L.S.U. kept Virginia Tech outside of the paint for most of the second quarter, double- and triple-teaming the 6-foot-6 center Elizabeth Kitley. But she still scored 12 in the first half, including a fadeaway that tied the game with 1:36 left.

The game so far has highlighted the teams’ contrasting styles: Where L.S.U. has done most of its damage in the paint, scoring 24 points, Virginia Tech has launched 16 3s and made four of them.

L.S.U. takes a 3-point lead after one quarter.

And in the first quarter, the Tigers showed that the Miami performance was an anomaly, getting out to a 16-13 lead. The Tigers shot 43.8 percent, and Alexis Morris and Reese combine for 12 points. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, struggled shooting, and it wasn’t until there was less than three minutes left in the first quarter that guard Georgia Amoore hit the Hokies’ first 3-point basket, after they missed their first seven.

Still, even with the shooting woes, the Hokies were down by only 3, a good sign for a team that has shot well throughout the tournament.

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Ticket demand for the women’s Final Four has been strong.

“The most exciting part about it is being a part of history,” L.S.U. guard Alexis Morris said. “We’re literally watching the game grow and change right in front of our faces, and we’re playing a huge part in it.”

The women’s Final Four features the more high profile matchups compared with the men, with all four teams seeded highly in the tournament when the brackets were released earlier this month. One matchup features the last two Associated Press national players of the year in Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston. The men’s Final Four lacks equivalent star power.

“It shows the demand that people want to be here and be in the arena that seats 20,000 people,” Clark said. “More than anything, I’m just lucky and we’re just lucky to get to play on a stage in front of so many people that love the game and want to watch our game.”

Listings on SeatGeek showed that the cheapest prices for the women’s games — for standing room only tickets — were more expensive than the cheapest prices for the men’s games. One factor at play is the differing capacities in the arenas, with the women’s Final Four in American Airlines Center, which seats 20,000, and the men’s games at NRG Stadium, with well over 70,000 seats.

“We understand where they’re coming from,” San Diego State senior forward Keshad Johnson said Thursday when asked about the perception of this being a “boring” men’s Final Four. “No blue bloods in here or anything like that, mid-majors in here. So it’s nothing really crazy about it. We understand what they mean.”

Said San Diego State senior guard Matt Bradley: “Those teams they wanted here, they’re not.”

Our columnist writes that women’s college basketball is ripe for more investment.

But there may not be a better story in sports than Caitlin Clark vs. Aliyah Boston. This week Clark was named national player of the year, supplanting Boston, the 6-foot-5 forward who has produced plenty of memorable moments while leading her team to three straight Final Fours and the 2022 national championship.

Boston could be the top pick in April’s W.N.B.A. draft. But first, she and her superlative coach, Dawn Staley, will try to prove that South Carolina can be a dynasty by getting past Clark and Iowa in Friday night’s Final Four matchup.

The power of the women’s game for narrative and high-stakes, compelling play has been there for years. But it hasn’t always been presented with proper attention. Women’s basketball has been part of a $34 million broadcast contract bundling all N.C.A.A. championships other than football and men’s basketball in the same deal.

Change could soon be on the way: This week, as the N.C.A.A. closed in on a decision about its next broadcast contract, several women’s coaches argued that it is high time for the association to sell the rights to the women’s tournament separately, potentially providing a financial windfall in the range of $81 million to $112 million per year, by one estimate.

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Kenny Brooks is just the second Black man to coach in the women’s Final Four.

There were 91 white men coaching Division I women’s basketball in 2021-22, or about 26 percent of all coaches. White women made up the largest share, at 42 percent.

In men’s college basketball, about 30 percent of Division I head coaches were Black men in 2021-22. Conversely, no team was coached by a woman, of any race.

Iowa’s starting five has a long history.

That kind of continuity is a rarity on college rosters that usually fluctuate with transfers, graduations, W.N.B.A. drafts and simple yearly turnover.

”We’ve been working on our games collectively as a starting five for so long,” Czinano said after Iowa defeated Louisville to reach the national semifinals.

That has paid off. The Hawkeyes have a specific chemistry, one that is occasionally punctuated with frustration that almost looks familial.

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder knew something special could be in store for the team when Czinano decided to stay and play for a fifth year. “Experience is a great teacher,” Bluder said.

When Iowa was down 8-0 at the start of their game against Louisville, for example, Clark said the team responded well because it “is old enough to understand it’s not going to bother us.”

“I just think we are such a veteran team that everyone just kind of knew we had to stay true to ourselves,” said Warnock, adding: “I mean, that could have blown up a lot worse than it did.”

The team will need to lean on that veteran mentality when it faces Dawn Staley’s undefeated Gameco*cks on Friday night.

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Angel Reese is the engine powering the Tigers.

It was just the latest banner moment in a season full of them for Reese, who transferred from Maryland before the season and has become the leading player for one of Division I’s top teams. As she is swatting shots, snatching rebounds and craftily banking in scoop layups, she is playing the Baltimore way.

“I feel like that’s what separates me from a lot of players, that I have that dog mentality and I always want to go out there and win and I’m very passionate about that,” Reese said in a phone interview earlier this month. “So whoever’s in front of me, I’m going to go get it, and I’m going to talk trash to you the whole entire game, and that’s that.”

Reese, who has recorded five games with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds, has played an instrumental role as the Tigers have matched the best regular season in program history: that of the 2004-5 Final Four team that featured Sylvia Fowles and Seimone Augustus.

Two Aussies, one spot in the championship game for Virginia Tech or L.S.U.

“She’s from the metro, I’m from the country,” Amoore, a junior guard for Virginia Tech, said on Thursday. “I’m so proud of her because she stuck through it, and it’s paying off for her.”

Amoore, who grew up in Ballarat, is leading the Hokies to their first Final Four appearance in program history. Poa, a sophom*ore guard from Melbourne, is part of Coach Kim Mulkey’s second season at Louisiana State as the Tigers make their sixth semifinals appearance.

But it’s not the first time the Aussies have faced off against each other. The two played against each other in club teams in high school, and even traveled to India together as part of the Australian national team, Amoore said.

Amoore and Poa are just the latest examples of the explosion of Australian basketball making its way stateside. Charlise Dunn, a freshman guard also from Victoria state, will also suit up for Virginia Tech on Friday night.

“The whole of Australia gets behind them,” said fellow Australian Ezi Magbegor, a center for the Seattle Storm. “Just for them to be able to have our support is really exciting.”

Eric Hayes, a junior basketball coach in Australia, coached Amoore in Ballarat and has followed Poa since she was 12. He described Poa as an athlete who “could just flat out play” and Amoore as “explosive and skilled.”

“It’s pretty awesome to see two girls that I saw as little kids battling it out in the Final Four — two Australian kids,” he said.