CLEVELAND (AP) 鈥� Caitlin Clark eventually found a way.
Completely shut down in the first half, the most exciting player in women's college basketball now has one game left in her storied career at Iowa. She'll try to cap it off by bringing the Hawkeyes their first national championship.
and made three momentum-turning 3-pointers in the second half to rally Iowa past Paige Bueckers and UConn 71-69 in the women's Final Four on Friday night.
Next up for the Hawkeyes (34-4) is a rematch with , which also had a perfect record last year before losing to Iowa in the national semifinals. The Hawkeyes then fell to LSU in the title game.
鈥淪outh Carolina has been the top of the top. They鈥檙e in a different league. We鈥檙e going to do everything we can to try to be right there with them,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淏ut, yeah, I think the biggest thing is enjoy this tonight and we鈥檒l go over the scout early in the morning.鈥�
After a rough opening 30 minutes because of a swarming UConn defense, the NCAA Division I career scoring leader scorer finally got going in the fourth quarter.
With the game tied at 51, Clark scored seven points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the period 鈥� including one of her signature step-back 3s 鈥� to give Iowa a small cushion. UConn (33-6) cut it to 60-57 before the Hawkeyes scored six straight to take a 66-57 advantage.
Iowa led 70-66 before Nika Muhl hit a 3-pointer after a steal with 39.3 seconds left to get the Huskies within one.
Iowa鈥檚 Hannah Stuelke turned it over with 10 seconds left. UConn had a chance to take the lead, but Aaliyah Edwards was called for an offensive foul while setting a screen with 3.9 seconds left.
Clark made one free throw but missed the second. Teammate Sydney Affolter got the rebound after Stuelke tipped it and UConn tied her up, forcing a jump ball. The possession arrow kept the ball with the Hawkeyes, who sealed the win by throwing the ball in the air to run out the final seconds.
Stuelke scored 23 points to lead Iowa. Clark finished with nine rebounds and seven assists.
鈥淚 thought we started off the fourth quarter really good," Clark said. 鈥淐ame up with some big baskets. Hannah came up with some baskets. Kate (Martin) was tremendous. Just resilient.鈥�
Bueckers and Edwards each scored 17 points for the Huskies, who were back in the Final Four after a one-year hiatus that ended their run of 14 straight seasons in the national semifinals.
This might have been one of the best coaching jobs by Geno Auriemma. UConn had hopes of winning the 12th title in school history coming into the season, but those were quickly dashed by a series of injuries that sidelined nearly half of its roster.
But Bueckers, the national player of the year as a freshman in 2021 who returned to that form after missing an entire season and part of another with injuries, carried the Huskies back into title contention.
鈥淲e put ourselves in position to win a game that we probably had no business being in given the circumstances we worked with,鈥� Auriemma said. 鈥淚n the moment, when you鈥檙e trying to win the game and don鈥檛 win the game, you don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e lucky to be here, you just think about we had an opportunity to win this game and we didn't."
UConn got going early behind Bueckers and stellar defense by Muhl and her teammates, who swarmed Clark every time she touched the ball. The Huskies led by 12 points in the second quarter.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what you鈥檙e going to see at this point. They鈥檙e gonna really sell out on me,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淚 thought my teammates stepped up did a really good job, made some big baskets when we needed it. I couldn鈥檛 be more proud of them. It takes all five of us.鈥�
Iowa trailed by six at the half before getting going in the third quarter behind their star. She made her first 3-pointer of the game 2 minutes into the period, and then got Iowa within one. The Hawkeyes then took their first lead later in the period right before Martin got hit in the face by Edwards, resulting in a bloody nose. She ran off the court, leaving a trail of blood behind her.
Martin was back on the Iowa bench before they had finished cleaning the court. She then hit three big baskets down the stretch and finished with 11 points.
鈥淐ouldn鈥檛 be happier with our performance tonight in the second half,鈥� Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. 鈥淔irst half was a little rough for us. We really kept believing.鈥�
Clark had a tough first half, scoring six points while missing all six of her 3-point attempts. She barely got any open shots and at times looked frustrated. Iowa鈥檚 coaches kept shouting words of encouragement to their generational player.
Even though she wasn鈥檛 scoring, Clark kept the Hawkeyes in the game with six rebounds and four assists as the Hawkeyes trailed 32-26 at the break.
鈥淲e got some good looks. They just didn鈥檛 go in. And sometimes that鈥檚 just what happens,鈥� Clark said. 鈥淲e missed some easy bunnies around the rim. But I think the best thing about our group is we went into the locker room at halftime and it wasn鈥檛, like, oh, come on, you鈥檝e got to make shots. It was, no, stop turning the ball over and you鈥檙e going to be perfectly fine.鈥�
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AP March Madness bracket: and coverage:
Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
