It was the remake of the final of the last “March Madness”, won by LSU. This time, the duel took place from the Elite Eight, and Caitlin Lark was able to take his revenge on Angel Reese.
The two teams were still neck and neck at halftime, before the best scorer in NCAA history heated up like Stephen Curry, by multiplying the 3-points in front of a Hailey Van Lith who did not deserve anything. But Caitlin Clark found space with her shifts to her left, and her arm did the rest.
As with Stephen Curry, the opposing defense panicked every time Caitlin Clark approached the 3-point line, and the latter was able to take advantage of it to offer easy baskets to her teammates. She therefore finished the match with 41 points at 13/29 shooting, including 9/20 from distance, 12 assists and 7 rebounds (but 5 turnovers).
In its wake, Iowa took control of the second half, even if we could count on Kim Mulkey's players not to give up. With their presence on the rebound, Angel Reese (17 points, 20 rebounds, 3 blocks) and her comrades tried everything to snatch the hold-up, but Caitlin Clark and her Hawkeyes were simply on top, and they generally mastered the end of the match to win 94-87.
Iowa will find Connecticut there, which for its part beat USC (80-73) behind 28 points (11/23 shooting), 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 interceptions and 2 blocks from Paige Bueckers.
The comeback, injured during the previous “March Madness”, made the difference in the final minutes, scoring 7 of the 11 points in the Huskies' fatal 11-0 victory. It was necessary to bring down the Trojans of JuJu Watkins, who compiled 29 points (9/25 shooting), 10 rebounds and 2 assists.
For Connecticut and its coach, Geno Auriemma, it is therefore a return to the Final Four, a year after the end of the series for the Huskies, who had participated there 14 times in a row, with six titles during this time.
The other Final Four match will be between South Carolina, still undefeated this season, and NC State.
