South Carolina finishes perfect season with NCAA title, beating Caitlin Clark’s Iowa 87-75

Dawn Staley and South Carolina completed their perfect season, ending Caitlin Clark’s historic college career with an 87-75 win over Iowa in the NCAA championship game Sunday.

With Staley directing a relentless attack from the sideline, the Gamecocks (38-0) became the 10th Division I women’s team to go through a season without a loss. And they accomplished the feat after they lost all five starters from last season’s team that lost to Clark’s squad in the national semifinals.

[NCAA Women’s Tournament highlights: South Carolina wins national title over Iowa]

Clark did all she could to lead the Hawkeyes to their first championship. She scored 30 points, including a championship-record 18 in the first quarter. She will go down as one of the greatest players in NCAA history. She rewrote the record book at Iowa (34-5), finishing as the career leading scorer in NCAA Division I history with 3,951 career points.

She hopes her legacy isn’t defined by falling short in two NCAA championship games, but more by the millions of new fans she helped bring into the game and the countless young girls and boys that she inspired.

At the end of South Carolina’s on-court trophy ceremony, Staley took a moment publicly thank Clark on the stage for what the Iowa guard has done for women’s college basketball and said she would “lift [the WNBA] up” in her transition to the pros. 

“You are one of the GOATs of our game,” Staley said. “We appreciate you.”

Clark is the presumptive No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, where she would join last year’s first overall pick and former South Carolina star Aliyah Boston on the Indiana Fever.

But it was Staley, not Clark, who added to her own “G.O.A.T.” résumé Sunday with her team’s victory.

South Carolina has now won three titles in the last eight years, including two of the past three, to lay claim to being the latest dynasty in women’s basketball. Staley became the fifth coach to win three national championships, joining Geno Auriemma, Pat Summitt, Kim Mulkey and Tara VanDerveer.

The Gamecocks, who have won 109 of their last 112 games, became the first team since Auriemma’s UConn in 2016 to go undefeated. South Carolina had a couple scares throughout the season, including in the first half of Sunday’s game when the Gamecocks trailed Iowa 10-0 and 20-9 early, but always found a way to win.

With most of the team returning next year except for star center Kamilla Cardoso, also expected to be a top WNBA draft pick this year, Staley’s team is in a good position to keep this run going.

Tessa Johnson, a freshman, led South Carolina with 19 points. Cardoso had 15 points and 17 rebounds.

Led by the 6-foot-7 Cardoso and Ashlyn Watkins, South Carolina enjoyed a 51-29 rebounding advantage. It also finished with 30 second-chance points.

The Gamecocks also showed off their impressive depth. Johnson helped the team to a 37-0 difference in points by reserves.

South Carolina trailed 46-44 late in the second quarter before going on an 11-0 run spanning halftime to open a 55-46 advantage early in the third quarter. Clark finally ended the run with a layup.

The Hawkeyes closed to 59-55 and had a chance to get even closer, but Hannah Stuelke missed a wide-open layup on a brilliant pass from Clark.

South Carolina responded with the next eight points, including two 3-pointers. The Gamecocks, who were 4 for 20 from behind the 3-point line during last season’s Final Four loss to Iowa, went 8 for 19 from deep against the Hawkeyes this time around.

The Gamecocks were up 68-59 after the third. They led 76-64 early in the fourth before back-to-back 3s by Clark and Gabbie Marshall got Iowa within six.

Iowa was down 80-75 after a three-point play by Sydney Affolter with 4:12 left. That would be the last point the Hawkeyes would score as South Carolina got the last seven of the game.

Clark checked out with 20 seconds left when Iowa coach Lisa Bluder subbed in fellow senior Molly Davis, who hadn’t played since she got hurt in the regular-season finale against Ohio State. She received a standing ovation from the Iowa faithful in the crowd.

When told about Staley’s praise from the trophy ceremony, Clark said Staley is someone she respects “immensely” as both a coach and a former star player.

“Any time you can get the praises of somebody like her, it’s pretty special,” Clark said. “It means a lot.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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