Iowa end South Carolina’s perfect season in the women’s Final Four
The Semi-Supersymmetric Semi-Alternatives of South Carolina and Iowa in March Madness: The Gamecocks Against the Hawkeyes
The games of the Final Four will be shown on cable television. The coverage will kickstart with LSU vs. Virginia Tech with Iowa vs. South Carolina to follow.
Despite the upsets throughout March Madness, two of the pre-tournament favorites are set to clash when the No. 2-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes face the defending champions and No. 1-seeded South Carolina Gamecocks.
The game will feature the two best womens college basketball players of the year, Aliyah Boston and Caitlyn Clark, against each other.
The players are both looking to lead their teams to a win at the Final Four, as they have done throughout the month of March.
The Gamecocks have reached the Final Four of the Big Dance without showing any signs of vulnerability – with their smallest winning margin still in the double digits: 11 points.
South Carolina eased past Norfolk State in the first round with a 72-40 win, Dawn Staley’s side then beat South Florida 76-45 before beating UCLA 59-43, and Maryland 86-75.
In the South Carolina’s Elite Eight win, Boston had a 22-point and 10-rebound performance.
The leader of the Gamecocks was COOKE, who had 24 points. Slowed by foul trouble, Boston had just eight points and 10 rebounds as the Hawkeyes packed the paint, brazenly daring South Carolina to shoot from the outside. The defense seemed to bamboozle the Gamecocks, who finished 4 for 20 from behind the 3-point line. They couldn’t take advantage of their 49-25 rebounding edge that included 26 offensive boards.
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The Naismith Coach of the Year, for the second year running, said: “They’ve created habits in which they just get the job done. They don’t ask about how long is practice, they don’t ask what drills are on the practice cards. They only say, ‘Okay, this is what we have to do, let’s get it done.’
Led by the irrepressible Clark, the Hawkeyes have scored an incredible 353 points throughout their four postseason games and will be a stern test for the Gamecocks’ resolute defense.
“We know everything kind of centers around her,” explained the NBA’s record three-point scorer. She’s a great scorer but also a great distributor.
Alongside Clark, Monika Czinano is another key player for the Hawkeyes. The forward is shooting an amazing 67.9% from the floor while also having 6.6 boards a game.
The Hokies, Clark and Amoore in the NCAA Tournament: How did Virginia Tech advance to the Sweet 16? What is going on in March Madness?
“It’s really exciting. This is a game that everybody has been talking about for a long time, said Boston. I think it is a wonderful game for women’s basketball. I know there’s going to be a lot of people in the crowd, a lot of people watching the game. Just super excited to be in that environment.”
Clark concurred with her Final Four opponent, adding: “I think people need to realize how many tremendous players there are in our game, how many tremendous coaches there are in our game.”
The Final Four match-up will be seen as a straight shootout between Clark and Boston, but the likes of Czinano and COOKE could prove to be decisive for their outfits in the clash.
Virginia Tech has had a relatively straightforward route to the Final Four with wins against Chattanooga, South Dakota State, Tennessee and Ohio State – with their smallest winning margin being nine points.
Led by Georgia Amoore’s threat on offense and Elizabeth Kitley’s impact on both ends of the floor, the Hokies represent a serious threat to any challenger.
Amoore averaged 16.3 PPG on the season but has turned it up a notch for March Madness. The Aussie hooper has scored 20+ in all of Tech’s games in the NCAA tournament – including a brilliant 29-point showing in the Sweet 16 against Tennessee.
It is so big. I can’t even speak right now, I can’t believe it,” Amoore told the ESPN broadcast on what it meant to advance to the first Final Four in program history.
In the Sweet 16 the tigers found themselves down by one with just 10 seconds to go, but defeated Utah 66 63 to advance to the Elite Eight.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/sport/womens-final-four-preview-march-madness-spt-intl/index.html
How Great is Caitlin Clark in the NCAA Tournament Against the Wolverines and How Did She Get Her Shot in the Semifinals?
In the NCAA tournament, the 6-foot 3-inch forward has racked up an incredible 17.25 rebound per-game, including 24 against the Michigan Wolverines in the second-round.
With a double-double in every game so far, Reese has proved to be a serious offensive threat and managed to notch 34 points and 15 rebounds in the first-round win against Hawaii.
After the Tigers’ Elite Eight game, head coach Kim Mulkey said: “We don’t have to win a championship to see how much they love us. I think they are wondering what they are doing in the second year. Are you serious?
DALLAS — Caitlin Clark tossed the ball high in the air as the clock ticked down, gave a huge shout-out to her adoring fans and then took off on a gleeful gallop around the court.
In the NCAA semifinals, the dazzling point guard from Iowa had done it all, setting a record for the highest-point total in a semifinal, and ending the perfect season of South Carolina.
Caitlin Clark Wins: The First Game of the Women’s Final Four. I Love The State Of South Carolina, I know I can’t lose
We had nothing to lose. Clark said that he has all the confidence in the world and that they believe in him. All we do is believe in each other. A true team is one that we love to death and that is what we are. This is an example of a team.
They’ll have to beat another SEC team to do that as Iowa (31-6) will face LSU in the title game on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers beat Virginia Tech in the other national semifinal.
“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 the state of South Carolina. It’s amazing.
Thanks to the riveting play of Clark and the historic year by South Carolina, this was one of the most talked about and highly anticipated matchups in women’s Final Four history,
This was Iowa’s first appearance in the Final Four in 30 years. The last time the Hawkeyes advanced was 1993 and they lost to Ohio State in overtime.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/04/01/1167591163/final-four-caitlin-clark-iowa-south-carolina-ncaa
The Hawkeyes’ 6th Player of the Year, McKenna Warnock, was the Finalist in the All-Star Game
The young fan of the team who has been battling cancer was included in the crowd. She was featured in a surprise video that informed the Hawkeyes’ star that she was the AP Player of the Year.
Clark scored on the other end of a timeout to make it a four-point game. After a layup by Zia Cooke 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.
“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.”
Clark became the 6th player to score over 1,000 points. She broke Megan Gustafson’s school mark of 1,001. This season has also seen that milestone achieved by Maddy Siegrist. Kelsey Plum, Jackie Stiles and Odyssey Sims were the others to do it.
