(Cleveland, OH) – The Iowa Hawkeyes will be returning to the National Championship after defeating the UConn Huskies in Final Four action 71-69. This marks the second straight season that Iowa has advanced to the National Championship after falling last season to LSU.
The game started off on an ugly note for the Hawkeyes who scored just 26 points throughout the first half of action, one of the worst performances that Iowa has had all season. Clark couldn’t hit any shots in the first half going 0-6 in the first half from beyond the arc and it felt like UConn was going to run with the game into the National Championship. The only thing was, that Iowa was just waking up for the second half.
Iowa went into the second half with the anticipation to score, and by the third quarter, they put down 25 points, just one point less than the entire first half. This tied the game at 51-all on the scoreboard and Iowa rolled with that motivation into the fourth quarter. Both teams battled back-and-forth with one another with just 49 seconds left to go, UConn got the ball back with just 9.3 seconds left, but with the controversial offensive foul called on Aaliyah Edwards, the game was all in the hands of the Hawkeyes as they ended up with a 71-69 victory.
The Hawkeyes were led by Hannah Stuelke who had a total of 23 points while shooting 5-7 from the charity stripe. This is the first time that Stuelke has led Iowa since February when she put down 47 points at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Penn State. She was the glue that held the team together tonight.
Caitlin Clark credited her teammate for leading the way while she had 21 points and nine rebounds while playing in all 40 minutes of the game. Clark now has 3.921 points, 1,139 assists, and 982 rebounds. Sitting right alongside Clark was Kate Martin who put down 11 points while grabbing eight rebounds and shot 5-11 from the field. The last top scorer was Sydney Affolter who knocked down eight points and hauled in seven boards. Head Coach Lisa Bluder stated that she may have wanted a better first half, but the second half was great basketball.
UConn was led on the night by Paige Bueckers who had 17 points while shooting 7-17 from the field and played alongside Clark in all 40 minutes of action. Aaliyah Edwards had 17 points and eight rebounds while KK Arnold knocked down 14 points and dished out five assists. The last top scorer was Nika Muhl who had nine points, seven assists, and five rebounds.
While the National Championship is coming up on Sunday, Caitlin Clark was just focused on this win and what they’ll do on Saturday to prepare for an undefeated South Carolina team.
Iowa will battle South Carolina in the National Championship this Sunday, April 7th at 2:00 p.m.
