LSU is bringing home the first national championship in program history after defeating Caitlin Clark and No. 2 Iowa 102-85 in Dallas on Sunday.

LSU head coach Kim Mulkey left Baylor in 2021 to lead her hometown team to a national championship, and she did it in just her second year despite tempering expectations throughout the season. Mulkey, a Louisiana native, got emotional as the clock ticked down on LSU’s inevitable victory, in tears as she celebrated with her team. The 60-year-old coach now has four career national titles.

“This team is just amazing. We built each other up from the summertime, and I’m just so happy,” LSU star Angel Reese told ESPN’s Holly Rowe as her team celebrated.

“Nobody thought we were gonna be here. Nobody.”

Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds in front of 19,482 fans at American Airlines Arena, including many in purple and gold. With her 34th double-double of the season, Reese set the NCAA record for the most in a single season. She was also named the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four, in just her first season with LSU after transferring from Maryland.

LSU guard Alexis Morris came alive late in the game, scoring 19 of her 21 points in the second half and contributing nine assists.

Iowa cut into LSU’s lead by going on a 15-2 run in the first five minutes of the third quarter, but foul trouble haunted them early and derailed their chances of a comeback. Monika Czinano fouled out with over six minutes to go in the game, and Iowa had no answer from there.

Clark paced the Hawkeyes with 30 points and eight assists. The National Player of the Year passed Sheryl Swoopes for the most points in a single NCAA Tournament when she reached 180 points on a 3-pointer near the start of the second half.

LSU’s bench players stepped up big in the first half, scoring 29 points compared to Iowa’s two bench points.

Jasmine Carson, who came into the game averaging 2.2 points in the NCAA Tournament, led the Tigers in the first half with 21 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field and 5-for-5 from 3. Carson’s hot hand lasted all the way until the end of the half, when she banked in a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give LSU a 59-42 halftime lead.

The graduated transfer finished the game with 22 points and three rebounds.

Both teams’ offenses were firing from the opening buzzer. Clark got off to a scorching start, scoring 14 points on 4-for-7 from 3-point range in the first quarter, but it was LSU who took a 27-22 lead into the second frame.

The referees were active early, calling 12 fouls in the first quarter and 21 total in the first half. The highly-anticipated post battle between LSU’s Reese and Iowa’s Czinano was quickly defined by the officiating, with each big getting called for two fouls in the first quarter. Clark also took a seat on the bench at the end of the first half after picking up three fouls.

DALLAS — Emma and Abigail Lehl had never been to an Iowa basketball game. They’d also never been on a road trip.

The girls, ages 8 and 6, knocked both out with one epic adventure, as their mom Haley piled them into a car and made the 12 hour, 34 minute drive from Cedar Falls, Iowa to Dallas for the Final Four.

After a season of watching the Hawkeyes on TV, the family decided this moment was too good to pass up.

“This could only happen once,” Haley said. “You never know.”

She’s right. The Final Four has eluded the Iowa women’s basketball team since 1993, so Lehl wasn’t going to risk her daughters missing out.

And she’s not the only one.

As Iowa defeated South Carolina on Friday for a spot in Sunday’s national championship game against LSU, the crowd at American Airlines Center had a noticeable contingent of Hawkeyes fans. In addition to their designated section, the stands were peppered with yellow shirts, hats, jerseys, and even a few pairs of striped overalls.

“That was super cool,” Iowa guard Kate Martin said. “We are like 16 hours away from home and we still had that many fans show up for us. It just really shows that we have the best fans in the country, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more Hawk fans showed up for Sunday.”

With seconds remaining on the clock in Friday’s semifinal game, it became clear that Iowa was going to pull off the upset of undefeated South Carolina. That’s when Abigail Lehl, who accessorized her Iowa gear with sparkly pink crocs, adorned with the letters “I O W A”, realized her team was going to win.

“That was my favorite part,” she said. “When Caitlin Clark threw the ball up and came to celebrate with the crowd.”

Clark dazzled the arena with a 41-point performance that included eight assists and six rebounds. The game between the Player of the Year and the undefeated defending champions generated a lot of buzz and had the turnout to match. It was a sold-out crowd, and tickets were hard to come by. The game also drew 5.5 million viewers on ESPN platforms, making it the most-viewed NCAA Women’s Tournament semifinal game on record.

Josh and Meg Rife started talking to their kids about going to the Final Four back at the start of the season. Then, Josh says, it was a joke. But as Iowa continued to win games and the Rifes continued to follow their run, it became clear that the joke was becoming a reality.

“After they won on Sunday (against Lousiville in the Elite Eight), I looked at the tickets and I was like, ‘These seem kind of expensive,’ but we promised the kids so we are going to do it,” Josh Rife said. “Then I woke up the next day and those tickets that I thought were expensive were all gone. I looked at what was left and I was like, ‘Well, I don’t perceive these getting any cheaper, so let’s just pull the trigger.”

In total, they spent $3,400 on tickets for the Final Four and the national title game.

The Rife kids, 10-year-old Holden and 8-year-old Cecilia, are fans of all Hawkeye sports, but this team has made a special kind of impact on them. Cecilia’s favorite player is Gabbie Marshall, while Holden marvels at the playmaking of Clark.

“He never differentiates between the men’s and women’s teams,” Josh said of Holden. “He loves the Hawks. And I don’t think there is a player he finds more engrossing and more fun to watch than Caitlin Clark.”

Rife grew up in Iowa and watched the 1993 team until, as he says “Ohio State and Katie Smith tore us up in the semifinal game.” Smith, who was a freshman at the time, went on to have a successful career in the WNBA and now serves as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Lynx.

Despite the loss, Rife remembers the run well, and he wants that for his kids.

“This is going to be a core memory for them,” he said. “They were so engrossed in the game, you know, sitting forward on the chairs, and it was just really special for them to be in the same arena with a team that we have followed closely.”

It made the drive and the money spent well worth it, something that Ralna McVinua understands well. Her family lives in Storm Lake, Iowa, which is a three-hour and 40-minute drive from Carver Hawkeye Arena. Despite the distance, the McVinuas are season ticket holders, and she took her two daughters to seven Iowa home games this season before deciding to attend the Final Four.

McVinua is a life-long Iowa resident. She was 17 the last time the Hawkeyes were in the Final Four, but she couldn’t see the games on TV. Instead, McVinua read what she could about the team in her hometown newspaper.

Now, the Hawkeyes get all kinds of coverage, a shift McVinua credits to the team’s star player.

“Taking my daughters to see this is amazing,” she said. “And we feel that Caitlin Clark has really grown the game. A lot of people are tuning in just to see her. We feel really fortunate that she is from Iowa and that she stayed in Iowa.”

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

DALLAS — Angel Reese didn’t set out to be a role model. She’s not even sure when or how it happened.

But now, when Reese looks into the crowd of LSU faithful, she sees purple and gold. She sees sequins in honor of her coach Kim Mulkey’s conspicuous fashion choices. And she sees a contingent of young girls cheering her on.

“I didn’t even realize the impact I made on so many little girls,” she said.

She couldn’t understand what captured their attention, so Reese went straight to the source.

“I’ll ask them, ‘Why do you love me?’ And they said, ‘Because you are who you are. You’re you.’ And that’s the biggest trait I carry. Be who you are, and never, ever back down to anyone.”

Reese and her unapologetic personality have taken the NCAA by storm this season, all the way to Sunday’s national championship game, where No. 3 LSU will take on Caitlin Clark and No. 2 Iowa.

Inspired by her single mom, who raised Angel and her brother Julian, Reese is proud of who she is and where she came from. She wears her emotions on her sleeve, on the court and on her Twitter account. Reese never holds back.

In a win over Arkansas on Jan. 19, Reese lost her shoe during a defensive possession, but it made no difference. When Samara Spencer drove to the basket, Reese held her sneaker in one hand and used the other to deliver a soul-crushing block.

Then, Reese stood over Spencer, who had fallen to the ground, and delivered a few lines of trash talk — another trait she’s become known for this season.

It resulted in a technical foul and discourse over the way Reese carries herself. But the LSU star isn’t going to tone down her personality for officials or for spectators. It’s who she is. And being a role model and a trash talker aren’t mutually exclusive.

“I’m from Baltimore where you hoop outside and talk trash,” she wrote on Twitter following the game. “If I was a boy y’all wouldn’t be saying nun at all. Let’s normalize women showing passion for the game instead of it being ‘embarrassing.’”

Twitter is where Reese addresses any grievances people have about her and her team. Often, young people are advised to think about what they put out into the world. The general consensus has long been that it’s better to keep those thoughts in your circle. But just like she rejects shots, Reese swats away that notion one tweet at a time.

Her candor, both online and in press conferences, rubs some people the wrong way, but it endears Reese to others. And those little LSU fans love it. Her realness and online presence are relatable to a generation that’s grown up with Twitter and TikTok.

“I feel like my life is an open book,” she said. “Everybody sees everything that goes on in my life. I don’t really have a personal life.”

Reese posts “get ready with me” videos on TikTok, sometimes, even on game days. She chats to the camera in a fluffy pink robe and a cheetah print bonnet while brushing her teeth and styling her hair. Social media makes these college stars more accessible, but Reese takes it to the extreme, letting her fans into every moment of her life.

All the while, she stays true to herself. Her wardrobe, full lashes and hair — she gets hers from former Baylor basketball player Te’a Cooper’s company, Hollywood Luxury Hair — have earned Reese the nickname “Bayou Barbie” among LSU fans.

Reese’s soft voice and doe-eyed videos are a far cry from her on-court persona, but both are quintessentially Angel. And transferring to LSU from Maryland after last season — another action she’s received criticism for — allowed Reese to fully embrace who she is.

“She came to LSU for a new start,” coach Kim Mulkey said. “I think Angel has grown up a lot. She can handle tough love.”

Reese doesn’t just handle it; she needs it. And she knew Mulkey would push her to be fully herself.

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Reese and LSU coach Kim Mulkey have formed a special bond this season. (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

LSU wasn’t even on her list, but her close friend and former Ohio State player, Kateri Poole, convinced Reese to take the visit with her. Reese was considering South Carolina and Tennessee, but after she talked to Mulkey and walked around LSU’s campus, Reese canceled her other two visits.

That’s how sure Reese is of herself and her instincts. She knew she was meant to be a Tiger, and now, as she prepares to play for a national championship, her decision is paying off.

When the little girls in the stands are cheering her on, they’ll see a trash-talking, eyelash wearing, Twitter-typing basketball player. They’ll see someone who knows who she is, loves who she is and is never afraid of that. They might see her get a technical. They might see an elaborate celebration or a TikTok dance after she scores an and-1. They might hear a spicy postgame quote.

They’ll see Angel Reese being Angel Reese. And they’ll love her for it.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

DALLAS — The Iowa Hawkeyes had to be perfect.

There was no wiggle room on the defensive game plan. No margin of error at any position. No opportunities to be taken for granted.

To beat South Carolina, the undefeated defending national champions, Iowa would have had to play an unprecedented 40 minutes.

So, that’s what they did.

When the buzzer sounded in the second Final Four game on Friday night in Dallas, the scoreboard read Iowa 77, South Carolina 73. After the basketball world watched South Carolina win 42 consecutive games, Iowa went to Dallas and beat the unbeatable team.

“Probably everybody in America picked South Carolina, deservedly so,” Caitlin Clark said. “They’ve been ranked No. 1 all year. They’ve won 42 straight basketball games. Why wouldn’t you pick them? But at the same time, the people in our locker room believed in us. That’s all you need is a belief in one another, a confidence in one another.”

It may have started with belief, but the Hawkeyes did need more. And they got it from up and down their lineup to earn a spot in Sunday’s national championship game against LSU, Iowa’s first appearance there in program history.

It’s hard to look at South Carolina and see weakness. Dawn Staley just took home Coach of the Year honors. Aliyah Boston is the Defensive Player of the Year, and if she decides to declare, Boston will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft. Zia Cooke is an All-American, Raven Johnson was the No. 2 player in her recruiting class, and coming off the bench, the Gamecocks have players who could be starting.

To look at South Carolina is to see dominance. But when Iowa watched game film to prepare for the Final Four matchup, that’s not what they saw.

They saw vulnerabilities that they could capitalize on.

“We feel like we can beat anyone in the country, and so we didn’t need to see a whole lot of film to think that,” Kate Martin said. “But after watching that film, everybody has flaws. Nobody is perfect. They’ve won 42 games in a row, but everybody messes up, and we did a good job of exposing that.”

The Hawkeyes didn’t need to see the film to know they could beat South Carolina, but it gave them more than the confidence they already had. It gave them a blueprint.

One game in particular dominated their film sessions: a Nov. 29 contest where UCLA stuck with South Carolina before falling 73-64. The Bruins packed the paint and sagged off the South Carolina guards, daring them to shoot. In that game, the Gamecocks went 1-for-14 from beyond the arc. Against Iowa, they were 4-for-20. If there was a weakness in the impenetrable force that is South Carolina, there it was.

“Kudos to UCLA for giving us some ideas,” Martin joked.

It wasn’t an exact replica, though. More like a jumping-off point.

“We played a similar style, but we upped it a little bit more, packed the paint a little bit more, and sagged off even more,” sophomore center Addison O’Grady said.

The Hawkeyes were committed to their game plan from the jump to the final buzzer. They sagged off of Raven Johnson, who stepped up and made three 3-pointers. Even when her shot started to fall, the approach stayed the same.

“I loved our game plan,” Clark said. “We were going to live with them making 3s. I thought Johnson came through and made some tough 3s in situations where they needed it, but we never got discouraged.”

The Hawkeyes knew they could afford to give up a few 3-pointers. Because when it’s offense vs. offense, they are going to win. Iowa leads the country with 87.6 points per game, and in a shootout, that matters.

“We just knew we had better offense, which really helped us,” Martin said.

That offense, of course, starts with Clark. She finished with 41 points and eight assists, and in the fourth quarter, Clark assisted on or scored every Iowa point.

As for the defense, that starts with Gabbie Marshall.

The guard didn’t score a single point against South Carolina, but her presence was felt.

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Iowa's Gabbie Marshall had the tough assignment of guarding South Carolina's Zia Cooke. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

When Georgia was set to take on Iowa in the second round, Bulldogs coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson referred to Marshall as the player with the “pretty eyes.” They may be pretty, but if Marshall is guarding you, her eyes are menacing, too.

There’s nothing quite like watching Marshall defend, Martin says. The senior set the tone for Iowa on Friday as she matched up with Cooke, South Carolina’s star guard. Cooke had 18 points in the first half, but was held to six in the second. And even when Cooke was scoring, Marshall was making a defensive impact.

In the locker room following her team’s victory, Martin marveled at Marshall’s intensity. When she makes a deflection and starts clapping her hands in excitement, the Hawkeyes feel a jolt of energy.

In practice, Marshall is the same way. So when game day comes around, Martin and company are happy she’s guarding the opposition.

“She gets in this zone, and it’s honestly kind of terrifying,” Martin said with a laugh. “She’s just got this look in her eyes, and she’s moving really hard. She really set the tone for us defensively out of the gate.

“Gabbie did not come to play around.”

But even with the perfect defensive game plan, a stopper like Marshall and a scorer like Clark, it was still a battle, particularly in the paint.

South Carolina outrebounded Iowa 49-25, and the Gamecocks had one more offensive rebound than Iowa had total. Martin recalls boxing out on multiple occasions only to have 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso grab the ball from over her head. But that was something they were ready for, and Iowa battled through. South Carolina was always going to be bigger and stronger. They were always going to have Boston, Cardoso and Victaria Saxon. Nothing Iowa did could change that.

But they could change the outcome — by buying into the plan Lisa Bluder laid out, and by playing it to near perfection.

Because, like Martin said, no one is perfect. But on Friday, Iowa was just close enough.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

DALLAS — Aliyah Boston takes free practice seriously.

It’s full of music and fanfare, a chance for spectators to see the Final Four teams in action, prior to the big games. But Boston’s cuts are sharp, her passes crisp. Her garnet braids hang down her back, blending into a South Carolina jersey of the same color. She sings along to Beyoncé’s “You Can’t Break My Soul,” and in between shooting drills and push-ups, she waves to little girls in the stands as they call her name.

And while Boston is focused on practice, a set of blue eyes is focused on her. They belong to Bryn Archie, a 10-year-old with a blonde ponytail sporting a white No. 4 jersey for her favorite player.

When practice is over, Boston rushes over to take a photo with Bryn. This is Bryn’s second time meeting Boston, but the first that she remembers. She was “really little the first time,” she says, but her mom, Lori, confirms that when Bryn was 4 or 5, she did meet Boston.

Whether she remembers or not doesn’t matter. Aliyah is her favorite player. “She’s good at basketball,” Bryn says. “And she’s a good person.”

The basketball part Boston did largely on her own, but the good person that Bryn admires is a product of Al and Cleone, who are sitting on the other side of the gym. It’s through her parents that Aliyah is connected to the Archie family. Lori and her husband have spent years vacationing in Saint Thomas, where the Bostons reside and Aliyah grew up. One day, they met the Bostons, and a conversation about football — the Eagles and the Cowboys to be exact — led to a friendship. As Bryn grew to love basketball, she had a role model in Aliyah.

The Archies, who live in Dallas, and the Bostons have been talking about the Final Four since November.

“Al told us then he had already booked his hotel,” Lori says with a laugh. “He was very confident that they would be here.”

South Carolina, the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, enters Friday night’s Final Four game against No. 2 seed Iowa with the edge. They’ll have to contend with Naismith and AP Player of the Year Caitlin Clark, but on their side the undefeated Gamecocks have Boston, back-to-back Naismith Coach of the Year Dawn Staley and the deepest bench in the sport.

Al and Cleone know how special this opportunity is. For Aliyah to have a chance at two national championships is an accomplishment players dream of. But the on-court achievements are not nearly as special as watching the impact their daughter has on others.

“That’s my favorite part,” Al says, pointing across the stands to Lori and Bryn as they wave.

And the Archies aren’t the only ones here to see Boston. A whole crowd of kids call her name, screaming in excitement when she turns to wave. After Bryn, several others line up for photos before Aliyah has to leave, and they all watch as she runs off the court and into the tunnel.

Even Al and Cleone get their share of the spotlight.

Cleone has a schedule of interviews in Dallas, where reporters hope to learn more about her daughter. The two were even approached for a photo while they watched Aliyah’s practice.

“Do you know who I am?” Al asked, confused.

“Oh yes!” the woman replied.

The interaction gave Al and Cleone a good laugh; Al jokingly blames Cleone for being the one people recognize. But even if others don’t recognize the Bostons in person, they know who they are. After all, they raised one of the country’s best, most impactful players.

Through Aliyah’s rise from the best player on Saint Thomas to one of the best in the NCAA, the Bostons have stayed the same. At the core of their relationship with Aliyah, and with each other, is their relationship with God.

Before every game, Cleone sends Aliyah a devotion. She never plans them out in advance, not even for a game like South Carolina’s Final Four matchup with Iowa. Instead, she prays, and the message comes to her.

At first, she just sent the messages to Aliyah, but over the years, other players have been added to the text thread: Zia Cooke, Brea Beal, Kamilla Cardoso and Victaria Saxton. They start with “Good Morning ladies,” and end with, “Love you ladies.”

Sandwiched in between the greeting and the sign-off is whatever message God sent to Cleone. Whatever the players need that day.

During the Sweet 16, Cleone told them, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.” She signed off with: “With the help of God, victory is your portion. Love you ladies.”

And for the Elite Eight: “No matter how difficult the challenge, when we spread our wings of faith and allow the winds of God’s spirit to lift us, no obstacle is too great to overcome. Seek God. Trust in God. Be Victorious.”

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(Jacob Kupferman/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Al takes a different approach. His job is to send Aliyah videos of players he thinks can give her inspiration. Recently, he sent her clips of Hakeem Olajuwon and his famous hook shot. Like Cleone, he doesn’t plan ahead. Instead, he waits for inspiration to strike.

“Tonight I’ll have a bottle of Pinot Noir and it will come to me,”Al joked, as Clone laughed along with him.

Aliyah Boston’s stage is set. On Friday, when she wakes up, she will open her phone to a message from Cleone. Then, she will watch clips of basketball greats sent from her father. Al will call her, too. And finally, she will take the court, attempting to lead her team to a spot in Sunday’s national championship game and make history once more.

When she does, Bryn Archie’s blue eyes will follow her from one end of the court to the other.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

College basketball’s biggest stage is set. Iowa, South Carolina, LSU and Virginia Tech are headed to the Final Four, and in three short days, one team will hoist the national championship trophy.

First, No. 3 LSU and No. 1 Virginia Tech (7 pm ET, ESPN), and No. 2 Iowa and No. 1 South Carolina (9 pm ET, ESPN) square off on Friday for the final two spots.

Iowa vs. South Carolina

To have Caitlin Clark and Aliyah Boston, the country’s top two players, squaring off in the Final Four is a gift from the basketball gods. And though the 2023 National Player of the Year and 2022 National Player of the Year will dominate headlines, this game is going to come down to the other eight players on the court.

Clark is going to be Clark. No one in the country has been able to contain her thus far, and even with an elite defender like Brea Beal marking her, I don’t see South Carolina slowing her down either. On the other side, Boston is going to be Boston. Monika Czinano is a talented center, but she’s no match for Boston, who will likely dominate the post matchup.

So, the stars will likely cancel each other out, meaning the winner of this game will be determined by the supporting cast. In that battle, South Carolina is superior. Beal, Victoria Saxton, Zia Cooke and Kierra Fletcher round out the Gamecocks’ starting five, which will go up against Czinano, Gabbie Marshall, McKenna Warnock and Kate Martin. While Iowa has shooters, their ability to score hinges largely on the playmaking skills of Clark, whereas South Carolina’s role players can create their own looks.

Then, there’s the bench. Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke is going to have an incredible future in the program, and Molly Davis has provided exactly what the Hawkeyes needed from her off the bench, but South Carolina has the best bench unit in the country. With 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso and elite point guard Raven Johnson, the Gamecocks don’t experience any drop-off when they go to the bench. It also means they don’t have to worry about foul trouble, a luxury Iowa doesn’t have.

Pick: South Carolina

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The matchup between Virginia Tech's Elizabeth Kitley and LSU's Angel Reese will be one to watch. (G Fiume/Getty Images)

LSU vs. Virginia Tech

When it comes to personalities, there aren’t two teams more different than LSU and Virginia Tech. The Tigers find motivation through trash talk and celebrations, while the Hokies prefer to keep their heads down and play basketball. The fact that both teams are here speaks to how important it is for coaches to let their players be themselves. When they embrace personalities, it allows their players to thrive.

When it comes to production, however, LSU and Virginia Tech have similar makeups. They both rely on an elite guard/post combo to power their offenses. For LSU, that’s Angel Reese and Alexis Morris, and for Virginia Tech, it’s Elizabeth Kitley and Georgia Amoore.

Reese averages 23.2 points and 15.7 rebounds per game, while Kitley averages 18.2 points and 10.7 rebounds. This post matchup could be the best of the tournament. As for the guards, Amoore contributes 16.3 points and 5.0 assists per game, while Morris averages 14.9 points and 4.1 assists.

Like in the South Carolina-Iowa matchup, I expect someone other than the stars to step up. It could be a player like Flau’jae Johnson for LSU, who has had a remarkable freshman campaign, or 3-point specialist Cayla King for Virginia Tech.

The 3-point line is going to be key in this game, as the Hokies like to shoot from long range. Amoore set the record for most makes in the first four games of the tournament with 20. King, meanwhile, averages 8.1 points per game, with 6.6 of those coming from beyond the arc. The Hokies are 20th in the country in 3-point makes, while LSU is 249th (out of 361) when it comes to defensive 3-point rate, meaning the Tigers allow a lot of points from deep.

Pick: Virginia Tech

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Stock in women’s college basketball continues to rise. 

Viewership for the Sweet 16 rose 73% compared to the same round in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, with an average of 1.2 million viewers. Topping the list of matchups was the battle between No. 3 seed Ohio State and No. 2 seed UConn, which drew 2.4 million viewers on ABC, a record for a Sweet 16 game, ESPN announced Tuesday.

UCLA and South Carolina brought in 1.8 million viewers, while Colorado and Iowa grabbed 1.3 million viewers.

The Elite Eight, meanwhile, averaged 2.2 million viewers – a 43% increase from last year and another record. The most-viewed matchup pitted Louisville against Iowa. Headlined by Caitlin Clark’s triple-double performance, the game averaged 2.5 million viewers and peaked at 2.7 million viewers – more than any NBA game aired on ESPN networks this season. 

To date, the tournament has averaged 660,000 viewers, a 42% increase from 2022.

The viewership records come as the regional rounds set an all-time record for attendance with 82,275 fans across the two sites of Greenville, South Carolina, and Seattle. The first two rounds set an attendance record of 231,677 fans.

SEATTLE — At 8:21 p.m., Georgia Amoore dribbled out the clock. At 8:35, she climbed a ladder and cut her piece of the net. And at 8:37 — that’s 2:37 p.m. in Victoria, Australia — Amoore stole a moment to grab her phone and FaceTime her parents.

From anywhere in the arena, Amoore’s joy was visible. Her eyes creased as her smile grew wider. On the other end of the call, Phil and Kelly told her they were on their way. Tomorrow, they’d be on a plane to Dallas to watch their daughter play in the Final Four. Her coach, Kenny Brooks, joined in on the call, and then he and Amoore shared a hug.

In his arms, on this court, so far away from the place she grew up, Amoore was at home.

Before the ACC tournament, Georgia Amoore was a name not everyone knew. In the postseason, that quickly changed. Amoore has been the engine making No. 1 seed Virginia Tech’s offense go in the NCAA Tournament, including Monday night with a 24-point performance in the Hokies’ 84-74 Elite Eight win over Ohio State. As the point guard dismantled defenses and led her program to its first-ever Final Four, Georgia Amoore became a name that casual fans and basketball greats committed to memory.

“I saw that Sue Bird shared her on her Instagram story,” said Amoore’s cousin, Keeley Frawey. “She’s getting noticed and it’s such a tribute to her. And that’s not her main focus. She just really wants to win.”

No one in Climate Pledge Arena knows Amoore better than Frawley, not even her teammates or coach. The two grew up together, playing basketball in Australia at Frawley’s family beach house in Portarlington.

Now, they both play college basketball in the United States. Frawley’s Portland Pilots also earned an NCAA Tournament bid, falling to Oklahoma in the first round. Amoore was almost a Pilot, too. Portland was the only other school to give her a scholarship offer, and at the time, Frawley hoped they would play their college basketball together.

Now, watching Amoore pose next to her trophy in a pile of confetti, with an Australian flag draped over her shoulders, Frawley knows that she is exactly where she’s meant to be.

“She’s absolutely thriving,” Frawley said with a smile.

Amoore had a standout regular season, averaging 16.1 points and 5.1 assists per game while leading her team to the ACC championship. But as the competition gets more intense and the stakes get higher, Amoore gets better. She had 24 points against Duke in the ACC semifinal, then 25 to top Lousiville and hoist the conference trophy. The junior guard opened NCAA Tournament play with 22 points, then 21, then 29 against a talented Tennessee team, and finally 24 against Ohio State to help Virginia Tech make history.

And Amoore did something no other team has been able to do in this tournament: She dismantled Ohio State’s signature defensive press, the same one that forced UConn into 25 turnovers in the Sweet 16. The Hokies had heard about the press. It was the main line of questioning leading up to the game: “How will you handle the pressure?”

The answer? With Georgia Amoore.

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Amoore celebrates as Virginia Tech runs out the clock on Ohio State. (Alika Jenner/Getty Images)

A couple of early turnovers caused Brooks to call a timeout. He and Amoore stood side by side, and he pointed to various spots on the floor. Amoore says she’s a visual learner. Often in practice, Brooks will demonstrate a move for her, and his point guard will mimic it. There was no time for that on Monday in Climate Pledge Arena, so they made due with words and gestures.

“I think for the press, it got a bit choppy when we started passing it too much,” Amoore said. ”I really just needed to break it by dribbling through it.”

After that, Amoore started to dissect the Ohio State defense off the bounce. She skillfully crossed halfcourt, dribbling around multiple defenders, head up, one eye on the clock, the other surveying the offensive possibilities.

Her technique was so clinical that, after the game, Amoore’s teammates marveled at her skills.

“Georgia, I don’t know how you do it, man,” Taylor Soule said with a piece of the net tucked under her Final Four hat. “I honestly sit back in the backcourt and just watch what you do in awe.”

She’s not the only one.

Frawley saw many moments throughout the win that were quintessential Georgia.

Like when Ohio State cut the lead down to two points with 3:16 left in the third quarter. A sloppy Virginia Tech possession had broken down, and after the ball bounced off both Buckeyes and Hokies players, it found its way into Amoore’s hands. She glanced up as the shot clock ticked down. Then, with one quick dribble, she blew by her defender for a layup.

Or when she made a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to end the third quarter, creating space from her defender with a dribble and a dramatic fade to the left.

Or when yet another shot clock neared expiration, with 6:57 left in the fourth quarter, and Amoore put her head down. She worked her way to the basket to find Elizabeth Kitley for a dump pass that turned into an and-1, giving Virginia Tech a 10-point lead and an extra dose of momentum.

All those moments were Georgia being Georgia, but one stood out to Frawley more than the rest.

The Virginia Tech guard took a hit to the face with 8:31 left in the second quarter. A wayward limb caught Amoore in the jaw and she flew backwards, her curly, brown ponytail cushioning a fall to the court.

Frawley didn’t see the play happen, but her mom did. Frawley received a concerned text from her, wondering if Amoore was going to be OK.

Moments later they had their answer.

Amoore left the court with assistance from trainers, appearing to head toward the locker room. But 44 seconds later — the only 44 seconds in the game when she wasn’t on the court — Amoore was back. The hit, she said, motivated her. And once she caught her breath, and shook off the initial shock of the blow, Amoore was ready to attack the game with new ferocity.

“I just had a little bit of rage and some catching up to do,” Amoore said. “They’re a strong team, and I think they were playing physical. I don’t like when people beat down on my teammates, so as soon as I copped the beating, I went back and refreshed and I came out with a different mindset.”

Two minutes later, Amoore hit a pull up 3-pointer in transition. Before getting hit, Amoore had two points. Afterward, she went on to score 22 more, including going a perfect 6-for-6 from the free-throw line and connecting on four 3-pointers. Hitting from long range, she says, is her favorite way to score.

She made a record 20 3-pointers over the first four rounds of the tournament.

“I just like to shoot the 3-ball,” she said with a laugh and childlike grin. “And I don’t know what else to say about that.”

But before she could set any records, Amoore needed to get back in the game.

“I knew that in every ounce of her bones and body, she was wanting to get back on that court,” Frawley said. “She’s so tough.”

And sure enough, before the crowd had any real time to worry, Amoore was back on the bench. Frawley watched as she approached Brooks, reading her lips as she told him, “I’m ready.”

And she was. Ready to take her team all the way to the Final Four.

“That’s just Georgia,” Frawley said.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

SEATTLE — Basketball was invented in 1891. After 132 years, it’s difficult to be surprised. There are exceptional performances, sure. But the game rarely sneaks up on you.

That’s why Caitlin Clark is so special. She’s doing things on the court that no one has ever done. Making shots that no one has any business making. Finding seams that aren’t there until she passes through them. Taking an arena in Seattle, 1,854 miles from Carver Hawkeye Arena, and making it sound like a home game.

To watch Caitlin Clark play basketball is to see it through a different lens. It’s to be surprised, every play. To see novelty in a game that’s existed for 132 years.

Like recording a 40-point triple-double in an NCAA Tournament game. That’s new. Clark achieved the milestone with 41 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds as Iowa topped Louisville 97-83 in the Elite Eight on Sunday night.

And Clark put her own spin on it. Not only was she the first to accomplish the feat, but she also did it to send her team to the Final Four — Iowa’s first since 1993, when another Hawkeye legend, C. Vivian Stringer, was coaching the program.

“She is spectacular,” coach Lisa Bluder said of Clark. “I don’t know how else to describe what she does on the basketball court. A 40-point triple-double against Louisville to go to the Final Four? Are you kidding? I mean, it’s mind-boggling.”

Clark’s coach and teammates are still getting used to the show she puts on. And this is new to them, too — watching Clark snuggle up to the regional trophy, celebrating together as orange, red, pink, black and blue confetti falls, seeing “Seattle Regional Champions,” and a Hawkeye logo on the big screen.

With a Final Four hat on her head, Clark ascended the ladder. She reached up and cut a single piece of the net. Then, with a smile, Clark showed the crowd. They cheered. She yelled. Countless players before her had done the same, but after treating Climate Pledge Arena to a brand-new show, it was Clark’s turn to enjoy something for the first time.

The Final Four.

It eluded her for two seasons. Last year, the Hawkeyes didn’t get close. An upset-minded Creighton squad halted the dream before they could get past the Round of 32. But now, Clark, and McKenna Warnock (17 points), Gabbie Marshall (14) and Monika Czinano, who came back for a fifth year just for this moment, and the entire Hawkeye roster got to hold a sliver of nylon on their hands. It served as tangible proof of what they had just accomplished, advancing to the biggest stage in college basketball.

“I love to play this game,” Clark said. “I’ve dreamed of this moment since I was a little girl. I’ve always wanted to take a team to the Final Four and be in these moments and have confetti fall down on me.”

It was a dream she and Lisa Bluder first discussed in the Clark family living room during a recruiting trip when Clark was in high school. She told Bluder she wanted to play in a Final Four.

“Let’s do it together,” Bluder told her.

It was also a dream that Clark wasn’t shy about sharing. First, she convinced the players in her own locker room that it was possible.

“A lot of people told me it would never happen when I came to the University of Iowa,” she said. “But (Bluder) believed in me, and that was really all that mattered. And we made our locker room believe. When you dream and work really hard, a lot of really cool things can happen.”

Once the team had bought in, Clark moved on to the public — much to Bluder’s chagrin.

“Caitlin was the one that said, ‘We’re going to the Final Four.’ And she kept saying it in the paper,” Bluder recalls. “And I’m thinking, ‘Quit doing that, man.’ I learned a long time ago not to always give your goals away to people. Because there’s a lot of people that want to tear ’em down. She wasn’t afraid of that goal. She wasn’t afraid of putting it out there.”

A dream. Now a reality.

The Caitlin Clark Show is heading to Dallas. Get your tickets now. They won’t last.

The Hawkeyes faithful will be out in numbers, cheering them on. Clark will make sure of it.

As she climbed closer to the Final Four and closer to a 40-point triple-double, Clark asked the crowd to get louder. She threw her hands in the air, motioning for the volume to rise. At one point, late in the fourth quarter, Clark held her palm to her ear to say, “I can’t hear you.” The decibels increased.

“I feel kind of powerful,” Clark said with a laugh. “I don’t think people realize how much that affects us on the court. It really is huge for us when we can play into that. But there were a lot of little kids out there screaming and cheering for us, which I think is the coolest thing.”

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Caitlin Clark signs autographs for fans after Iowa's Elite Eight win. (C. Morgan Engel/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

In Greece, former Iowa great Megan Gustafson woke up to an alarm before 4 a.m. so she could watch the Hawkeyes. Sue Bird was in the stands at Climate Pledge Arena. Her alma mater, UConn, was out, but she came back to see Iowa and Louisville square off. In the crowd, countless adoring fans waved signs, most of them with messages for No. 22.

One said, “Caitlin Clark, are you serious?”

Another: “Clark buckets from the logo counter,” with a place to write in every time Clark made one of her signature 3-point shots.

A little girl with cropped, pink hair hoisted a poster board that read: “Iowa, I got Sue Bird’s signature, now I just need Caitlin Clark’s.” Bird was a record-setting point guard who won titles with UConn and the WNBA’s Seattle Storm. She played 20 years in the WNBA and is regarded as one of the best to ever do it. In the eyes of a little Hawkeyes fan in Seattle, Bird and Clark are already on the same level.

And that was before Clark’s record-setting performance. Now, that little girl and others, too — little boys and grown adults included — can say they were there when Caitlin Clark dropped 41 points and recorded the first triple-double of its kind to get her team to the Final Four. At 21 years old, No. 22 is already altering the history books.

And there’s still more to be written.

“The job’s not finished,” Clark said.

She’s ready for Dallas. Are you?

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Virginia Tech might have a “No. 1” next to its name for the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, but junior guard Georgia Amoore doesn’t think the Hokies have been getting enough love.

“I didn’t see a lot of positive stuff about us on social media, so that was a huge factor to it,” Amoore told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after scoring a career-high 29 points in Virginia Tech’s 73-64 win over Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

Head coach Kenny Brooks shared a similar sentiment ahead of his team’s Sweet 16 matchup. When asked how Virginia Tech was handling its status as the “favorite” against a storied program like Tennessee, he replied, “Favored by who? If you listen to the analysts, nobody’s favoring us.”

Brooks continued, calling out ESPN: “Heck, they gave us Andraya Carter, who is a Tennessee grad. She’s doing the game. And Rebecca Lobo is lurking around. She’s a UConn grad. So, no one’s picking us.”

Granted, it’s been a breakthrough season for Virginia Tech, which won its first ACC championship to earn a No. 1 seed in the 2023 NCAA tournament, another first. On Monday night, the Hokies will play in the Elite Eight, the deepest NCAA tournament run in program history. They tip off against No. 3 Ohio State at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

Brooks has described his players as basketball junkies who read and watch as much about the sport as they can — even when those stories aren’t about them.

“I think they all saw the article that was on ESPN, is this the next chapter of Tennessee and UConn? They didn’t have to say a whole lot, but it just really motivated them and they understand that they belong as well,” Brooks said. “We might not have as much history as those programs, but these kids are helping to build our history with our program.”

“We definitely see it,” senior Elizabeth “Liz” Kitley said of the media’s blindspot. “We talk about it amongst ourselves in a motivating manner and like, if anything, it just fuels us.”

Even though the Virginia Tech might not have the same decorated history as UConn or Tennessee — and the recognition that comes with it — the Hokies understand that this season’s success could be the beginning of a new women’s basketball dynasty.

“They do know the magnitude of what a win would do for our program,” Brooks said.

“If you listen to Liz or Georgia or Cayla King, who’s been with me since the inception of us trying to turn this program around, I want it so bad for them, but they want it so bad for me. We won an ACC championship, and they’re like, ‘I’m so happy for you.’ And I’m like, ‘What do you mean happy for me?'”