LSU's championship crown has been knocked off by Iowa 94-87
The match-up of the tournament finally happened as Iowa faced LSU on Monday. As everyone knows it was LSU who knocked out Iowa and crashed Caitlin Clark's and the Hawkeyes their championship party last year, so this year all eyes were peeled to the TV.
Prior to the match-up, Angel Reese told media that she loves Clark and what she represents to women's basketball, but when she is on the court, there are no friends. Clark echoed Reese's comments and said that she is fierce competitor and that it's competition on the court. For some strange reason, national media have pent these two schools against each other, but as Reese stated. If she has to be the villain for the growth of women's basketball, she will play the villain role. With so much on the line and a trip to the Final Four, both teams battled hard.
LSU in majority of the first quarter had trouble stopping Clark and the outside shooting of Iowa. At one point in the quarter, it looked like Iowa may run away with it, but after LSU called a timeout, things started working in their favor. LSU went on a 16-6 run to finish the quarter with the lead. Things got a bit scary early in the second quarter. Reese reinjured her ankle after attempting to block Iowa's shot on a 3-2 transitional play. She took a few minutes to gather herself and went back into the game. Back and forth both teams went. Iowa had a one-point lead.
LSU went away from their game plan early in the third quarter and had costly turnovers, which Clark and crew capitalized off of. Clark was going nuts as she shot three-point arrows in pierced the heart of LSU's defense. One of the key factors that haunted the Tigers was not giving Reese the ball, when she was asking for it in the post. Each time, LSU would cut the lead to single digits, Clark would hit a huge three to extend Iowa's lea. Iowa went on to win and advanced to the Final Four. Clark finished with 41 points; Resse finished with 17 points and 20 rebounds.
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