No. 1 South Carolina Too Much for Hawkeyes

Gamecocks Top Iowa in National Title Game

The end was going to be hard to accept, win or lose.

It’s why Caitlin Clark wanted to soak in everything from her final game as an Iowa basketball player.

Sunday’s 87-75 loss to South Carolina in the NCAA women’s national championship game was going to lead to tears, Clark said, but she also wanted to appreciate the journey she had for four seasons.

“For me, just the emotions will probably hit me over the next couple days,” said Clark, who finished her career with a 30-point game that included a championship-game record of 18 points in the first quarter. “I don't have much time to sit around and sulk and be upset. I don't think that's what I'm about either.

“Yeah, I'm sad we lost this game, but I'm also so proud of myself, I'm so proud of my teammates, I'm so proud of this program. There's a lot to be proud of.”

Clark had made a promise to coach Lisa Bluder when she committed to Iowa that she was going to get the Hawkeyes to the Final Four, and she did that twice. Finishing the title run didn’t happen — Iowa lost to LSU last season, then fell to an undefeated South Carolina team that was making its own history.

Asked how she would move forward, Clark said, “I think just reflecting back and soaking in everything that I was able to do because basically anybody other than me and Coach Bluder never thought this was possible.”

The Hawkeyes’ back-to-back runs to the championship game were magical in their separate ways, yet had the same conclusion.

Bluder had her own appreciation of the journey.

“It kind of makes me a double loser right now, quite honestly,” Bluder quipped. “It's tough. But I know how hard it is to get here too. I say that tongue in cheek because I know it is really, really difficult to get to a Final Four. For us to be national runner-ups two years in a row, I'm never going to apologize.

“So many people (said) last year, ‘Oh, you'll do it next time,’ like it was terrible we didn't win the national championship. So many people said that to me. I'm like, ‘Darn, you guys, we're national runner-ups. That's pretty good too.’”

This tournament road was a grind for the Hawkeyes. They needed a late surge to get past West Virginia in the second round at home, fought to eliminate LSU in the regional final, then had to rally to beat Connecticut in Friday’s national semifinal.

The Gamecocks proved to be overwhelming.

“I think the biggest thing is it's really hard to win these things,” Clark said. “I think I probably know that better than most people by now. To be so close twice, it definitely hurts, but at the same time, we were right there. We battled. We took down some really great teams to get back to this point. It's something that's really hard to do.”

South Carolina (38-0) simply wore down the Hawkeyes (34-5) with a size advantage that led to a 51-29 rebounding edge and a depth advantage that led to a 37-0 margin in bench points. Nine of the Gamecocks averaged more than double digits in minutes, while Clark and teammate Kate Martin played all but the last 20 seconds.

Iowa started the game with a 10-0 run and led 27-20 after the first quarter, but was outscored 29-19 in the second quarter and 38-29 in the second half.

“They're a really good team,” Clark said. “We knew they were going to go on runs. By no means, when we started off as hot as we did, did we think we'd be able to hold that lead. That's just what teams do.”

The Gamecocks were especially effective on Clark, who had just 12 points over the final three quarters.

“To be able to have all those fresh legs on Caitlin was really tough,” Bluder said. “And not only their depth, their height. I'm not just talking about their centers. They're really pretty big at every position, which makes it hard. They could recover really well when we had (3-pointers).”

South Carolina had 30 second-chance points, compared to 16 for Iowa.

“We tried our best boxing out and I think we played our best but the amount of points they had

on offensive rebounds obviously caused a problem,” Iowa guard Sydney Affolter said.

South Carolina held Iowa to 29.4 percent shooting in the third quarter and led by as much as 14 points before the Hawkeyes rallied. They got to within 80-75 with 4:12 to play, but they would not score again.

Tessa Johnson led South Carolina by coming off the bench to score 19 points. Kamilla Cardoso had 15 points and 17 rebounds. Te-Hina Paopao had 14 points, and Chloe Kitts had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

“Cardoso has 17 rebounds,” Clark said. “They have 51 as a team. We have 29. Hard to win a basketball game like that. You've basically got to shoot perfect at that point.”

Martin had 16 points for Iowa. Affolter had 12 points, and Hannah Stuelke added 11.

It was the final game for Clark, Martin and Gabbie Marshall, three starters who have been together for the last four seasons. Injured guard Molly Davis, along with senior Sharon Goodman, got into the game for the last 20 seconds.

All of the records Clark leaves with — she passed every career scoring mark in major college basketball, women’s and men’s — this season can’t even begin to describe what she accomplished.

“She has raised the excitement of our sport,” Bluder said. “There's no doubt, just because she does things in a different way than anybody else can do. Plus she has all the intangibles. She's a great student. She's a great role model. She does everything — she loves being that role model.

“I really think that, when she came in as a freshman and she said, we're going to the Final Four, a lot of people laughed at her and maybe even laughed at her for coming to Iowa, quite honestly. But she believed, we believed, and she got everybody else in that locker room to believe. And that is not an easy thing to do.”

Bluder knows there is work ahead, but likes where her program is after this run that included a full season of sellout crowds, home and away.

“It's kind of hard to process right now,” she said. “I pray that our team will still get the fan support even when Caitlin leaves. I mean, we have five seniors leaving.

“So, yeah, we're going to be young. We're going to have some growing pains next year. But I hope that people respect the way that we play, the way that we do things, and they're going to want to support this young group of Hawkeyes next year, just as much as they have after the success we've had the last couple of years. So I just hope it maintains.”

Bluder thought about what had been accomplished over the last two seasons.

“I'm never going to apologize for finishing second in the country,” she said. “But it sure would be nice to win one.”