NCAA Women’s March Madness: LSU beats Iowa to win

DALLAS—Kim Mulkey had tears of joy streaming down her face when she first showed us around LSU national championship.

Her Tigers used a record offensive performance to beat Kaitlyn Clarke and Iowa 102-85 on Sunday to win the first basketball title in school history.

The win made Mulkey the first female coach to win national championships at two different schools. She won her three at Baylor two years before she left for LSU.

“Coaches are lifelong coaches and this is the fourth time I’ve been blessed,” Malkey said.

A lively and glamorous outfit in glittery golden tiger stripes, Marquis currently holds the third most titles behind Geno Auriemma’s 11 and Pat Summit’s 8. Malkey has never lost a championship game.

“My tears are tears of joy,” she said.

Clark, the Associated Press Player of the Year, failed to lead the Hawkeyes to their first national title despite one of the greatest individual performances in NCAA Tournament history. She scored her 40 in the semifinals and knocked out undefeated South Carolina her one game. After that, she achieved her triple her double with her 40 points in the Elite Eight, making her the first in NCAA history.

The stunning Iowa-bred guard set the NCAA record for points in a tournament, surpassing Sheryl Swoopes’ 177 in 1993 and led Texas Tech to the title that year. Clark finished the tournament with 191.

The 102 points surpassed the 97 points Texas scored against Southern California in 1986 and set a new all-time championship game record.

Attending the game was Mrs. Jill Biden, who was sitting in a suite above the court with tennis great Billie Jean King.

Jasmine Carson had 22 points, Alexis Morris had 21 points and Angel Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds for LSU (34-2).

“It’s not a one-man show here. If I’m down, the next guy is up,” said Reese, who was honored as the Most Valuable Player in the Final Four. Every time I do it, everyone comes to step up.”

Trailing 21 points early in the third quarter, Iowa started a 15-2 run with a hit from the outside, hit four 3-pointers and converted a 3-point play to make it 65-57. I got it within

The Hawkeyes (31-7) were trailing 73-64 with 1:03 remaining in the third quarter when Clarke was called for a technical foul. After a foul call against her teammate, she slammed the ball to the floor. It counted as a personal foul for her, her fourth of the game.

“They thought it was very tight,” Clark said. “Throw the ball under the basket and foul him technically — sometimes that happens.”

Clark committed four fouls throughout the fourth quarter but could not get close to the Hawkeyes.

“They played really well and they were ready. They did a great job. I’m very proud of my team,” said Iowa coach Lisa Bruder. “It’s brutal. It’s really hard not being able to walk out of that locker room today and coach Monica (Chinano) and McKenna (Warnock) again. I’m so grateful for the season we had and I’m just going to start from there.” I don’t want to take anything away.”

Mulkey started crying after Katari Poole hit a 3-pointer in front of the LSU bench. Seconds later, after another LSU her basket, Reese taunts Clark by putting her hands in front of her face in a “you can’t see me” gesture, finally pointing to her ring finger. I was.

As the final seconds ticked away, Malky and Reese embraced and began a wild celebration by the Tigers.

The game was tight for the first 15 minutes before Carson got hot from the outside. She made all six of her shots in the second quarter, including four of her 3-pointers. After one of them, she threw her hands in the air and Malkey imitated it on her sidelines.

As a bonus, a shot from the grad guard just before the halftime buzzer sounded gave the Tigers a 59-42 lead at halftime.that is Most points scored in the first half It broke the record held by Tennessee since 1998.

“I’ve been working for this all my life and it feels great to finally be able to show it on this stage,” Carson said at halftime.

LSU shot 58% from the field in the opening 20 minutes, including going 9-for-12 from behind the arc. The Tigers finished the game with his 54% shooting from the field, including 11 of his 17 3-pointers.

After scoring 16 points and five assists, Clark fouled for the third time in 3 minutes and 56 seconds, but it didn’t go over well for a packed house of over 19,000 fans.

Before Sunday, Carson was scoreless in five of the seven postseason games of her career.

Although there were many interruptions due to foul calls and it was difficult to get into the flow of offense, it was a high score in the first quarter. Clark scored his 14 points in the first quarter, but Iowa tied his 27-22.

Carson made a 3-pointer before the buzzer.