Hawkeyes Edge Past Huskies, Will Play Gamecocks for Title

Last year’s NCAA Women’s basketball tournament first runner up, No. 1 seed and Albany 2 region champion Iowa Hawkeyes, featuring the most exciting player in women’s basketball in guard Caitlin Clark, entered Friday’s game as four point favorites in their national semifinal game against the No. 3 seed UConn Huskies, winner of the Portland 3 semifinal, for the right to play for the championship against the No. 1 seed in the Albany 1 region, South Carolina Gamecocks.

It was an offensive foul called on UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards with 3.9 seconds left in the game that secured the 71-69 win for the Hawkeyes at Rocket Mortgage Field House in Cleveland.

The Hawkeyes began the scoring with a layup by Clark for the early 2-0 lead, but UConn rattled off an 11-3 run with baskets from guards Ashlynn Shade and Paige Bueckers, three-pointers from guards KK Arnold and Nika Muhl, and a free throw by Arnold. Iowa had a three-pointer by guard Kate Martin. UConn led 10-5 with 6:04 left in the opening quarter.

Hawkeyes forward Hannah Stuelke took over the game for the next three minutes by scoring a layup on an inbounds pass, then driving past Edwards for another layup, and then making a shot while getting fouled by UConn forward Ice Brady. Though she missed the free throw, Stuelke went on a personal 6-0 run to make the score 13-11 with 3:11 left on the clock.

Shade and Muhl each made three-pointers for UConn, and guard Kylie Feuerbach scored a triple for Iowa. UConn led 19-14 at the end of the first quarter.

Edwards made a layup to begin the second quarter and then the defense clamped things down for both teams as neither team made a shot for the next two minutes until Stuelke scored on a layup with 7:37 left on the clock.

The Huskies powered through a 7-0 run featuring a layup by Arnold, a three-pointer by Bueckers, and a fast break layup by Edwards, who picked off a Clark pass that was intended for Stuelke. UConn now led 28-16 after the run.

Clark make a layup with 5:02 left in the half, but neither team scored for the next two minutes. However, it was the beginning of a 10-2 run as guard Sydney Affolter was fouled by Arnold. She made one of two free throws, and then scored a three-pointer shortly afterwards. Arnold scored on a jump shot for UConn, but Clark answered with one of her own. Affolter ended the run with another layup. Bueckers made a buzzer beater to give the Huskies a 32-26 lead at the half.

Guard Gabbie Marshall scored a three-pointer for Iowa to begin the third quarter and cut the deficit to three. The teams traded baskets for a couple possessions. Clark hit her first three-pointer of the day with 8:09 remaining in the quarter to cut the deficit to two points, then Martin made a layup to tie the game 36-36.

UConn’s Bueckers broke the tie with a three-pointer and made a layup. This was offset by three free throws by Stuelke. Brady made a three-point play with a layup and a Stuelke foul to give the Huskies a 44-39 lead, but it evaporated on the next possession. Clark made a three-pointer but was fouled by Shade. After Clark made the free throw, the score was 44-43 with 3:49 left in the third quarter.

Edwards and Stuelke got into a basketball trading competition. Edwards was fouled by Martin but only made one of her free throws. Ten seconds later, Stuelke tied the score at 45-45.

Stuelke was fouled by Arnold, who committed her fourth infraction of the game. Stuelke’s free throws were good, but a layup by Edwards tied the score again. Stuelke and Edwards exchanged baskets again to tie the score at 49-49. Then Affolter made a shot which was again answered by Edwards. The score was 51-51 at the end of the third quarter.

The Hawkeyes continued to take advantage of the momentum shift they got at the end of the third quarter and pushed a quick 5-0 run on with a Stuelke layup and a Clark three-pointer. Brady made a jump shot but then fouled Clark, who converted both free throws. It was Brady’s fourth foul of the game. Edwards and Clark exchanged jump shots and Iowa took the 60-55 lead with 7:55 left in regulation.

After an Ice Brady shot cut the deficit to three points, Iowa pushed the next run. Clark stole a pass from Muhl, then dished to Stuelke who made a layup in transition. Then Martin connected on a fadeaway jumper. Marshall hit a long two-pointer that was initially ruled a triple until the review showed that her foot was on the line. The Hawkeyes held their largest lead of the game, 66-57, with 5:42 remaining in regulation.

Edwards made a layup. On the next possession, Muhl stole a pass from Clark, then dished to Bueckers who scored a three-pointer. The score was now 66-62 with 4:11 left.

The teams traded buckets for the next four possessions. Then Muhl hit a three-pointer with 41 seconds left on the clock to cut the UConn deficit to a single point, 70-69.

The Huskies played tough defense and got the ball back into their possession. Iowa’s Marshall was coming around a screen set by Edwards. The whistle blew with 3.9 seconds. Referee Gina Cross signaled “offensive foul” for a moving screen. Edwards couldn’t believe the foul was called. Neither could UConn head coach Geno Auriemma who was yelling in disbelief on the sideline. The Hawkeyes called a timeout.

Bueckers fouled Clark on the inbounds pass. The Iowa guard and holder of the all-time NCAA scoring record made the first of two free throws. The second one missed and was rebounded by Affolter, who was quickly tied up. The possession arrow favored the Hawkeyes.

Clark took the ball out of bounds and bounced it off of Bueckers and it went out of bounds with 0.8 seconds left. She then inbounded the ball to Martin who threw it high into the air as the buzzer sounded. The Hawkeyes could now advance to their second consecutive championship game.

Iowa went 27-for-59 (45.76 percent) from the field; 7-for-25 (32.00 percent) from three-point range; and 10-for-14 (71.43 percent) from the free throw line. They committed 16 turnovers.

“[I] couldn’t be happier with our performance tonight in the second half. First half was a little rough for us, but you know, we really kept believing. I’m just so proud of the character of these young women to maintain their composure through some pretty tough times in the first half. We got it to within six at halftime and we felt good about that,” said Hawkeyes head coach Lisa Bluder. “I thought Hannah Stuelke was amazing tonight. But we’re really thrilled to be playing in the championship game for the second year in a row.”

UConn shot 29-for-63 (46.03 percent) from the field; 8-for-25 (32.00 percent) from three-point range; and was 3-for-4 (75.00 percent) from the charity stripe. They turned the ball over 14 times.

“After we beat USC, one of the things that was said in the locker room was, you know, people always ask you how you feel about winning a game like this. And sometimes you just can’t put into words how you feel. You just have to feel it. You have to be there and you have to have been there, be a part of it,” said Huskies head coach Geno Auriemma. “The same thing applies to when you lose at this part of the season. It’s hard to explain how you feel when the season ends so suddenly.”

“But we put ourselves in a position to win a game that we probably had no business even being in, given the circumstances that we worked with. So when you say, well, you were lucky to be here, given everything, but in the moment, when you’re trying to win the game and you don’t win the game, you don’t think you were lucky to be here, you just think about we had an opportunity to win this game and we didn’t. Iowa won the game and they get to go on and we get to go home,” he added.

Hannah Stuelke led the Hawkeyes with 23 points. Caitlin Clark added 21 points and led Iowa with nine rebounds and seven assists. Kate Martin pitched in with 11 points.

Going to the national championship game is, everybody’s stepping up. It’s not just me. It’s not just one player. That’s not what this is. We wouldn’t be at this point right now if it was just one player. Everybody comes up and makes really big plays when we need them,” said Clark. “I think our team’s confidence is pretty good at this point in the year. Obviously there’s only one more game left to go. And that doesn’t surprise me.”

The Huskies were led by 17 points each by Bueckers and Edwards. KK Arnold added 14 points. Edwards led UConn with eight rebounds and Nika Muhl dished out seven assists.

“We just had a play. I thought we were going to run it. I thought we executed it well. We were going to get a shot off. The whistle blew. I didn’t see it. It was in the rear of me. I was just trying to come off the screen,” said Bueckers. “Everybody can make a big deal of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game. I feel there were a lot of mistakes that I made that could have prevented that play from even being that big or causing the game…Yeah, maybe that was a tough call for us, but I feel like I could have done a better job preventing that from even happening.”

The Hawkeyes will now face the top seed from the Albany 1 Region, the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, for the national championship on Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, also at Rocket Mortgage Field House in Cleveland. The Gamecocks defeated the N.C. State Wolfpack 76-66 in the earlier semifinal contest.