Caitlin Clark, Iowa finish South Carolina’s excellent season : NPR

DALLAS — Caitlin Clark tossed the ball excessive within the air because the clock ticked down, gave an enormous shout-out to her adoring followers after which took off on a gleeful gallop across the court docket.

Within the greatest matchup of her life, the dazzling level guard from Iowa had executed all of it — poured in 41 factors to set a report for the highest-scoring NCAA Match semifinal, ended the proper season of South Carolina and, most significantly, put her Hawkeyes into the championship sport.

Clark overwhelmed the reigning champions with one other sensational present from begin to end, serving to Iowa cease the Gamecocks’ 42-game profitable streak 77-73 on Friday evening within the Ultimate 4.

“We had nothing to lose. I’ve all the boldness on the earth on this group, they usually consider proper again in me, and that is all you want,” Clark mentioned. “All we do is consider in each other and we love one another to loss of life, and that is what a real crew is. If you need an instance of a crew, that is what that is.”

The spectacular junior grew to become the primary ladies’s participant to put up back-to-back 40-point performances within the NCAA Match. She now has the Hawkeyes in a spot they’ve by no means been in earlier than — one victory away from a nationwide championship.

They will should beat one other SEC crew to try this as Iowa (31-6) will face LSU within the title sport on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers beat Virginia Tech within the different nationwide semifinal.

It is the Tigers’ first look within the title sport as Kim Mulkey grew to become the second coach to take two totally different groups to the championship sport.

“I really like me some Caitlin Clark,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder mentioned. “We have been speaking about being mission-focused loads this yr, and we had a sport plan and these guys executed so properly. That’s South Carolina we simply beat, of us. Superb.”

Because of the riveting play of Clark and the historic yr by South Carolina, this was one of the crucial talked about and extremely anticipated matchups in ladies’s Ultimate 4 historical past,

The sport lived as much as the hype surrounding it— the most effective participant vs. the most effective crew — a lot to the delight of the sellout crowd of over 19,000 followers.

“Tonight confirmed how enjoyable ladies’s basketball is,” Clark mentioned. “I am certain some individuals wished this was a collection of seven video games.”

Coach Daybreak Staley and South Carolina (36-1) had stored on profitable since taking final yr’s title.

“I do not assume we felt strain to win the sport, we simply did not carry out,” Staley mentioned. “And that hasn’t been us all season lengthy.”

“I do not assume our gamers felt strain, every other pressures moreover eager to win one other basketball sport,” she mentioned.

This was Iowa’s first look within the Ultimate 4 in 30 years. The final time the Hawkeyes superior this far was 1993 underneath coach C. Vivian Stringer, whose crew misplaced to Ohio State in time beyond regulation.

Clark wowed the gang that included Harper Stribe, a younger fan of the crew who has been battling most cancers. She was featured in a shock video that knowledgeable the Hawkeyes’ star that she was the AP Participant of the Yr.

Clark has created fairly a stir since going to school in her house state. She led the nation in scoring twice and final weekend had a sport for the ages, recording the primary 40-point triple-double in NCAA historical past to guide the Hawkeyes to the Ultimate 4.

Now she has them on the doorstep of extra historical past.

Trailing 59-55 coming into the fourth quarter, South Carolina scored the primary 5 factors to take the lead. Clark answered proper again with two deep 3-pointers and an help to Monika Czinano to provide the Hawkeyes a 67-62 lead.

South Carolina obtained inside 69-68 on Raven Johnson’s 3-pointer earlier than Clark obtained a steal for a layup with 3:32 left. Neither crew scored once more till star Aliyah Boston was fouled with 1:37 left. She made the second of two free throws.

Clark then scored one other layup on the opposite finish out of a timeout to make it a four-point sport. After a layup by Zia Cooke with 58 seconds left, the Hawkeyes ran the clock down with McKenna Warnock grabbing an enormous offensive rebound off a Clark miss with 18 seconds remaining.

Clark hit two free throws after South Carolina fouled her with 13.5 seconds left. They have been her thirty eighth and thirty ninth level, transferring her previous Nneka Ogwumike for probably the most in a Ultimate 4 semifinal sport.

After a putback by Johnson with 9.9 seconds left obtained the Gamecocks inside 75-73, Clark sealed the sport with two extra free throws.

The loss ended an incredible season for the defending champion Gamecocks, who have been attempting to develop into the tenth crew to undergo a season unbeaten.

“It was bodily. You have to give them a number of credit score,” Clark mentioned. “They seem to be a large crew, they’ve had an incredible yr, clearly so well-coached.”

Cooke led the Gamecocks with 24 factors. Slowed by foul hassle, Boston had simply eight factors and 10 rebounds because the Hawkeyes packed the paint, openly daring South Carolina to shoot from the surface. The protection appeared to bamboozle the Gamecocks, who completed 4 for 20 from behind the 3-point line. They could not make the most of their 49-25 rebounding edge that included 26 offensive boards.

Clark grew to become the sixth participant to attain over 1,000 factors in a season. She joined former Hawkeyes star Megan Gustafson, breaking her college mark of 1,001. Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist additionally reached that milestone this season. Kelsey Plum, Jackie Stiles and Odyssey Sims have been the others to do it.