Caitlin Clark scores 41 points as Iowa reaches national championship game

DALLAS — Caitlin Clark overwhelmed the defending champions with another sensational game, scoring 41 points to help Iowa spoil South Carolina’s perfect season with a 77-73 victory on Friday night in a national semifinal game.

“Tonight showed how fun women’s basketball is,” Clark said. “I’m sure some people wished this was a series of seven games.”

The spectacular junior guard set a record for the highest-scoring semifinal game and became the first women’s player to post back-to-back 40-point performances in the NCAA Tournament. She has the Hawkeyes in a spot they’ve never been in before — one victory from a national championship. Iowa (31-6) will face LSU in the title game on Sunday afternoon.

“We had nothing to lose. I have all the confidence in the world in this group, and they believe right back in me, and that’s all you need,” Clark said. “All we do is believe in one another and we love each other to death, and that’s what a true team is. If you want an example of a team, that’s what this is.”

Thanks to the spectacular play of Clark and the historic year by South Carolina, this was one of the most-talked- about matchups in women’s Final Four history.

South Carolina (36-1) had won 42 in a row, including last year’s championship game. “It was physical. You’ve got to give them a lot of credit,” Clark said. “They’re a tremendous team, they’ve had a tremendous year, obviously so well-coached.”

Coach Dawn Staley and South Carolina (36-1) had kept on winning since taking last year’s title. “I don’t think we felt pressure to win the game, we just didn’t perform,” Staley said. “And that hasn’t been us all season long.

“I don’t think our players felt pressure, any other pressures besides wanting to win another basketball game.”

Clark became the sixth player to score more than 1,000 points in a season. She joined former Hawkeyes star Megan Gustafson, and Villanova’s Maddy Siegrist also reached that milestone this season. Kelsey Plum, Jackie Stiles and Odyssey Sims were the others to do it.

“I love me some Caitlin Clark,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We’ve been talking about being mission-focused a lot this year, and we had a game plan and these guys executed so well. That is South Carolina we just beat, folks. Amazing.”

Clark has led the nation in scoring twice and last weekend had the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA history.

Clark hit two deep three-pointers and had an assist to Monika Czinano to give the Hawkeyes a 67-62 lead.

After a layup by Zia Cooke (24 points) made it a two-point game with 58 seconds left, the Hawkeyes ran the clock down, with McKenna Warnock grabbing a huge offensive rebound off a Clark miss with 18 seconds remaining. Clark hit two free throws with 13.5 seconds left.

After a putback by Raven Johnson with 9.9 seconds left got the Gamecocks within 75-73, Clark sank two more free throws.