CLEVELAND — She left the court for the last time with her head held high. She left a courthouse that looked nothing like the first one she entered in Iowa. She left as a six-foot tall epic, etched into the hearts of millions. She is a collegiate collage of Babe Ruth, Bobby Orr, Stephen Curry, and Salvador Dali, and has redefined the unimaginable, making her one of the most influential and popular her sport has ever seen. He left as a great player.
She wanted more and left.
Caitlin Clark’s storied run at Iowa ended Sunday without a national championship as the Hawkeyes failed to repeat last year’s upset of undefeated South Carolina with an 87-75 loss at a packed Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. .
Last year, Clark lost by double digits to LSU in the first national title game in Iowa’s history, but in his final game, Clark finished with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists, winning the Black Gold Medal.
No. 1 South Carolina (38-0) suffered its only loss in the past two seasons to Iowa in last year’s Final Four, but has won two of the past three national championships. Coach Dawn Staley won her third ring with the Gamecocks.
No. 1 Iowa State (34-5), which ended a 30-year Final Four drought last season, has never won a national championship.
Iowa believed it would happen and led 7-0 by the time Clark hit his first shot. Coach Clark then led Wilt Chamberlain to score 13 straight points, giving Iowa an 18-7 lead. South Carolina’s top-ranked defense tried to intimidate the leader of the nation’s highest-scoring offense — Bree Hall and Raven Johnson were inches from Clark’s eyes — but , Division I’s all-time leading scorer was unfazed and finished the first quarter in second place. Scored 18 points while making 3 of 4 shots.
The same couldn’t be said for Iowa’s front line, where 6-foot-7 Camila Cardoso (15 points, 17 rebounds) treated the Hawkeyes like kids who wandered onto the floor. The Gamecocks scored seven points early in the second quarter to tie the game and took their first lead at 36-34 midway through the quarter as Clark missed four consecutive shots. Captain Kate Martin (16 points) and sophomore Hannah Stuelke (11 points) kept the Hawkeyes afloat until Clark hit a 3-pointer with less than two minutes until halftime.
In the final seconds, Johnson (who was humiliated in last year’s matchup when Clark waved him dismissively as he tried to take an open shot) stripped the superstar for a layup and South Carolina trailed 49-46 at halftime. took the lead.
It was a thrilling, emotional and suspenseful 20 minute movie. The second half initially struggled to match, with South Carolina opening up a nine-point lead, but the crowd went silent and Clark’s frustration grew. The Iowa State superstar cut the deficit to two points with two drives and an assist, before freshman Tessa Johnson (19 points) and the Gamecocks came from deep to extend the lead to 14 points.
Eventually, the Iowa-dominant crowd woke up and Sidney Affolter’s 3-point play with 4:13 left brought Iowa within five points. But Hawkeye didn’t come close.
Clark kept looking up at the clock, watching the best four years of his life melt away. She looked to the referee, to the ceiling, for help that her teammates couldn’t provide. She was ejected with 20.2 seconds left to a standing ovation from the crowd and was the last to leave the court, with someone else’s confetti falling on her head.
