The Hawkeyes are headed back to the Final Four after a 94-87 win over the Tigers.
Chantel Jennings, Ben Pickman, Nicole Auerbach and Scott Dochterman
(Photo: Andy Lyons / Getty Images)
38 New Updates
The Athletic College Basketball Staff
Caitlin Clark, Iowa avenge last year's loss to LSU, advance to Final 4
Iowa prevailed Monday in a tightly contested battle between two of the most-hyped stars and teams in women's college basketball, as the Hawkeyes took down the defending champion LSU Tigers 94-87 to return to the Final Four.
Led by star guard Caitlin Clark with a game-high 41 points, the No. 1 Hawkeyes pulled ahead in the second half — as Clark put up 12 points in the third quarter to help Iowa carry an 11-point lead into the fourth. Clark finished with 12 assists and seven rebounds and shot 13-of-29 from the field, including 9-of-20 from 3.
The No. 3 Tigers opened the game with strong rebounding (with 12 boards in the first compared to Iowa's five), while the Hawkeyes relied on their 3-point shooting, which proved too much for LSU's defense.
Tigers star Angel Reese finished with 17 points and a game-high 20 rebounds. Reese briefly exited in the first half after falling underneath the basket. She hopped directly to the bench without putting any weight on her right leg but returned shortly after exiting. She later fouled out with 1:45 remaining and LSU trailing by 10 points.
The contest marked a rematch of last year's title game, which LSU won 102-85 over Iowa to claim its first national championship. Iowa is seeking its first title and will face the winner of No. 1 USC and No. 3 UConn in the Final Four on Friday.
LSU's Angel Reese starts off strong
As Angel Reese has gotten off to a strong start here in Albany, one of her SEC opponents for the past few seasons who was just in Albany has made a big decision of her own. South Carolina center Kamilla Cardoso took to Instagram and shared that she is declaring for the 2024 WNBA Draft. South Carolina advanced out of Albany 1 last night.
Gameco*cks coach Dawn Staley said, "I'm going to sit back and I'm going to enjoy (Iowa-LSU) like everybody else, like probably millions and millions of people are going to tune into that game. I'm going to be one of them. I don't have Nielsen ratings in my house, but you can count me in, to watch the game tomorrow night."
Advertisem*nt
We've seen some great basketball already through one quarter and both teams have excelled where we thought they would... LSU has been excellent on the glass, outrebounding Iowa 12-5. Tigers haven't given up any second-chance points to the Hawkeyes, and they've gotten out in transition. Iowa, on the other hand, is being that 3-point shooting team we know it can be. Four different players have already knocked down at least one triple — Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, Sydney Affolter and Gabbie Marshall.
LSU leads 27-26 with 1:14 left 1Q
LSU takes its first lead of the night on the heels of a 6-0 run, but on the ensuing defensive possession, Last-Tear Poa picks up her second foul of the night. She has been guarding Caitlin Clark through much of the first quarter and sticking with her pretty well. Kim Mulkey pulls her and Hailey Van Lith comes back in. She started with the Clark defensive assignment.
Keeping up with the theme of this tournament, charges continue to be called when players hit the floor rather than worrying about whether they're set or not. Iowa's Sydney Affolter got dinged this time.
And the first player in double-digits tonight is... you guess it... Caitlin Clark. She leads all scorers with 11 points. Angel Reese has six points so far.
LSU assistant coach Bob Starkey was not happy with Last-Tear Poa after that last possession. As the game went to an official timeout, he repeatedly called out from the sideline, "Poa. Poa. Poa," before going up to her right away as the LSU players entered its sideline huddle. She had fouled Clark as Clark drove right for her last basket.
Advertisem*nt
Offensive fireworks aplenty in Albany! It's already 25-21 in with more than three minutes to play in the third quarter. For reference, the UConn-Duke halftime score two days ago was 23-13.
Angel Reese gets on the board
Reese scores her first field goal of the game after getting an offensive rebound. She already has two offensive rebounds and LSU has three as a team. Iowa doesn't have any.
ESPN intentionally assigned Ryan Ruocco/Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe to the Albany region. They wanted their Final Four/title game team in place in the event this game happened. That was smart. This crew has done so many big games. The moment won't be too big for them.
The pace completely favors Iowa right now
If the Hawkeyes can drill 3-pointers with this type of precision, LSU will have to try to match shot for shot, which might be futile. The Hawkeyes lead the country in 3-pointers per game at 11.0, while the Tigers are 302nd at 4.2 3-pointers per game. Iowa also is ninth in 3-point percentage at 37.7 while LSU is 98th at 32.7 percent.
Iowa's X-factor
The most important player (outside of Clark) for Iowa is Hannah Stuelke because of LSU's rebounding prowess. She leaned on Angel Reese, who hooked her with a veteran move and pulled Stuelke backward, getting the Iowa post her first foul.
Advertisem*nt
Iowa's gotten off to a fast start offensively, but the more notable aspect of its game plan is the choice to open in a 2-3 zone. So far, Flau'jae Johnson has forced 3 -3-pointer against the zone (she missed) and LSU has two turnovers.
Hannah Stuelke picks up her first foul of the game less than a minute into game action while battling for a rebound with Angel Reese. Stuelke needs to stay out of foul trouble because there's a drop-off between Stuelke and backup Addi O'Grady. Stuelke, also, allows the Hawkeyes to play faster in transition because she's very fast and gets down the floor the fastest of any of Iowa's bigs.
(Ben Pickman)
A basketball game is underway!
I spoke to ESPN analyst Rebecca Lobo on Sunday morning about calling tonight’s Iowa-LSU game. Needless to say, Lobo was hyped. She thinks the quality of play tonight will be high but she mostly wanted to talk about potential viewership. She asked me what I thought.
I think this game, especially if it’s close late, can hit the 8 million viewer mark. Here’s why such a number is crazy to think about historically. Prior to last year’s record 9.9 million viewers for the title game, the previous record for an NCAA women’s basketball title game — again, a title game — in the ESPN era (since 1996) was 5.68 million viewers for UConn’s title win over Oklahoma in 2002. The previous all-time record for any women’s basketball game prior to last year’s title game was 8.1 million viewers for a Virginia-Stanford national semifinal on CBS in 1992.
Now we are throwing around these unicorn numbers for an Elite Eight game. This game, even based on a conservative estimate, is going to draw more viewers than the 2002 title game. Everything about this is a new paradigm, so enjoy the Millennium Falcon’s jump to light speed.
We'll learn a lot about this matchup pretty quickly — as we see how it's officiated, especially for LSU/Angel Reese in the paint.
Advertisem*nt
As the public address announcer welcomed both teams to tonight's Elite Eight game, the ovation for the Iowa Hawkeyes was substantially louder than that for the LSU Tigers.
The talk has been very focused on Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, understandably. But, I'm fascinated to see the Aneesah Morrow-Kate Martin matchup at the four spot. Reese-Hannah Stuelke is obviously a big one, but how the Morrow-Martin battle shakes out could be a big indicator of tonight's game.
The Athletic College Basketball Staff
It's almost time
Tigers vs. Hawkeyes, oh my
Load more updates
