Caitlin Clark and Iowa shock Dawn Staley’s South Carolina; will face LSU in NCAA championship game

DALLAS — One of the most highly anticipated basketball games of the season didn’t disappoint as 19,288 fans packed a sold-out American Airlines Center to watch a generational talent in Caitlin Clark take on one of the deepest teams in college basketball.

In the latter half of the fourth quarter, neither team scored for over two minutes, but you’d never be able to tell by the decibel level inside the arena.

And Clark, who’s won award after award this season, delivered an all-time performance, scoring 41 points as Iowa sent South Carolina packing with an 77-73 loss, the Gamecocks’ first of the year. The Hawkeyes (31-6) snapped South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak and will face LSU in the national championship game on Sunday (3:30 p.m., 6abc)

Clark didn’t just provide more than half of Iowa’s points. She added six rebounds and eight assists as she led the Hawkeyes within one win of the first women’s basketball championship in school history. Monika Czinano (18 points) was the other Hawkeye in double figures.

It took a couple of minutes to get going, but once they did, on a layup by Clark at the 7-minute, 54-second mark, the Hawkeyes rose to the occasion. Clark had 19 points and six assists by halftime.

Aside from Zia Cooke, the Gamecocks’ offense largely struggled early as they shot 33.3% in the first quarter. Cooke had nine of the Gamecocks’ 13 points as Iowa led by nine at the first buzzer. Cooke had 18 first-half points, while Gamecocks star Aliyah Boston missed her only shot attempt of the half. Cooke led South Carolina with 24 points, while Kamilla Cardoso provided her usual spark off the bench to the tune of 14 points and 14 boards, and Raven Johnson added 13 points.

Back-to-back three-point plays by Laeticia Amihere and Cooke early in the second quarter helped the Gamecocks (36-1) close the gap to three, but Clark answered on the other end to make it a five-point game again. Clark answered a Cardoso bucket with an off-balance three to help keep the Gamecocks at arm’s length.

It was another three-point play — again by Amihere — that made it a one-point game before her turnaround layup gave South Carolina its first lead with 3:09 left in the first half. That bucket sparked a back-and-forth grapple for the advantage, which Iowa held, 38-37, at halftime.

Clark scored the first four points of the second half as Iowa opened with an 8-0 run to stretch its lead back out to nine.

Boston finally collected her first bucket of the game off an offensive board at the 7:08 mark, and the Gamecocks slowly began chipping into their deficit, cutting it to four by the third-quarter buzzer. Boston finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

South Carolina finally reclaimed a lead with 9:05 left, but it was short-lived. Clark hit a three to swing the momentum back to Iowa, which held onto it the rest of the way. The Hawkeyes guard fended off every advance by South Carolina down the stretch, sinking all four free throws, following an offensive rebound by McKenna Warnock, to ice the game in the final seconds. She scored Iowa’s final 13 points

Clark lobbed the ball into the air 2.3 seconds after corralling the final inbounds pass. She and her beloved teammates celebrated on the court — with one more game on their schedule.

LSU just wouldn’t give up.

And now, the Tigers will play for a national championship in head basketball coach Kim Mulkey’s second season.

Despite trailing by 12 in the third quarter, LSU (33-2) used a 15-0 fourth-quarter run to beat Virginia Tech, 79-72.

The No. 1-seeded Hokies, making their first Final Four appearance, took the 12-point lead following a 16-0 run that stretched from the second quarter and into the third. They led for less than a minute of the first half but went into halftime with a 34-32 lead thanks to a Kayana Traylor bucket with 53 seconds left.

Virginia Tech (31-5) went on a 5-minute, 47-second fourth-quarter drought ended by a trio of Georgia Amoore free throws with 2:05 left to make it a 72-65 game. Amoore and Traylor finished with 17 points each, while Elizabeth Kitley led the Hokies with 18 points and 12 rebounds.

LSU’s decisive run was fueled by second-chance points, as it recorded 10 in the final period and 24 on the evening. Tigers star Angel Reese helped drive that, and she finished with 24 points and 12 boards. Alexis Morris led all scorers with 27 points.

The Hokies used hot shooting from beyond the arc to take their double-digit third-quarter edge, but LSU wasn’t going anywhere.

After clawing back to a single-digit deficit by the third-quarter buzzer, Morris scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to make it a four-point game. The Tigers then leveraged a turnover for a Reese layup to make it 59-57 and force a Tech timeout.

LSU’s momentum continued as Morris tied the game on a pair of free throws before Flau’jae Johnson’s fast-break layup gave the Tigers a 64-62 lead with 5:44 left, and they never trailed again.