*(CNN) — The sequel didn’t have the very same solid as the unique. Faculty basketball doesn’t work that manner. However the two distinguished stars from the NCAA ladies’s basketball match a yr in the past – Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and LSU’s Angel Reese – remained entrance and middle within the sport. Monday night time, they each lived as much as the hype, but it surely’s the sharp-shooting Clark who will get to play on within the Closing 4.
Clark had 41 factors – together with going 9-of-20 from three-point vary – to go together with 12 assists and 7 rebounds, and No. 1 Iowa topped No. 3 LSU 94-87, a rematch of final yr’s NCAA title recreation, to advance to the Closing 4 for the second consecutive season.
Within the Closing 4, Iowa will face both No. 1 USC or No. 3 UConn, who’re enjoying within the regional ultimate in Portland, Oregon.
“Job’s not completed,” Clark stated on the courtroom to ESPN after the win.
The ladies’s Closing 4 is about to occur Friday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio, and the nationwide championship recreation is scheduled on Sunday.
In the meantime, on the alternative aspect of the ladies’s bracket, undefeated and prime general seed South Carolina will face No. 3 NC State within the Closing 4. These two groups clinched their spots with wins on Sunday.
Clark, who has probably the most profession factors in Division I historical past for men and women, is a generational expertise. The 22-year-old is projected to be the No. 1 general decide within the WNBA draft on April 15.
However earlier than the WNBA, she has one final shot at a nationwide title.
After the sport, the Iowa celebrity shared a second on the handshake line with Reese and LSU head coach Kim Mulkey.
“(Clark) simply informed me, ‘Proceed to be an incredible participant,’ and I informed her proceed to be an incredible participant, as properly, and hold elevating the sport and go win it,” Reese stated.
“What did I say to her? I stated, ‘I positive am glad you’re leaving,’” Mulkey stated. “I stated, ‘Woman, you one thing else.’ By no means seen something prefer it.”
Was revenge on Iowa’s thoughts after what occurred final yr?
“To be sincere, no,” Clark stated.
A rematch for the ages
Whereas Iowa and LSU have been dealing with one another within the Elite Eight, the match at MVP Enviornment in Albany, New York, had the vitality and depth of a nationwide championship recreation.
Regardless of rolling her ankle within the second quarter, Reese had her tenth consecutive double-double within the NCAA match, tying the match document, with 17 factors and 20 rebounds earlier than fouling out with 1:45 left. She additionally had 4 assists, three blocks and two steals.
Kate Martin added 21 factors for Iowa, whereas Sydney Affolter had 16. LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson had 23 factors.
The final time Clark and Reese squared off – with Reese famously waving her hand in entrance of her face towards Clark after which pointing to her ring finger as LSU closed in on the nationwide title – it was the most-watched ladies’s school basketball recreation in historical past. The matchup in 2023 was in comparison with when Magic Johnson confronted Larry Chook within the 1979 NCAA males’s title recreation.
However Johnson and Chook didn’t have a Half II (a minimum of not in school) like Clark and Reese did.
Clark retains including to the document books, breaking the NCAA’s document for three-pointers made in a profession throughout Monday’s recreation, surpassing Taylor Robertson of Oklahoma.
Clark additionally broke the NCAA match document for many assists (140) and three-pointers (70) in 15 profession video games.
It’s not identified if Reese, final yr’s Closing 4 Most Excellent Participant, will return to LSU or head to the WNBA. Reese, who shall be 22 in Could, is a junior.
“I’ll decide after I’m prepared,” Reese informed reporters after the sport.
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