South Carolina completes undefeated season with national championship win vs. Iowa

For the second time in the past three seasons, South Carolina has claimed the national championship. The Gamecocks completed an undefeated season, beating Iowa by a score of 87-75 and fending off another record-setting performance from Caitlin Clark to win.

Tessa Johnson led the way with 19 points off the bench as South Carolina had 37 bench points compared to none for the Hawkeyes. Starters Chloe Kitts and Kamilla Cardoso each finished with double-doubles as the Gamecocks dominated the glass to outrebound Iowa 51-29.

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It wasn’t an easy victory as Iowa made several late pushes to put some pressure on South Carolina late. The Hawkeyes came as close as five points with three minutes remaining. However, they would ultimately be held scoreless the remainder of the game as the Gamecocks hit some clutch free throws to secure the win.

Clark did all she could in the loss to finish with 30 points, eight rebounds and five assists. She became the all-time scoring leading in NCAA Tournament history in the process. Unfortunately for her, she ended her career without a national championship as she fell short in the title game for the second straight year.

It was an exciting first half of action with both teams finding no trouble getting things going offensively. The Hawkeyes jumped out to a quick 10-0 advantage in the first quarter as South Carolina did not score its first bucket until three minutes in. The Gamecocks eventually found their footing and came back within two before ending the quarter down 27-20.

South Carolina carried its momentum into the second quarter to begin on a 7-0 run to tie things up. It wasn’t until the 4:58 mark that the Gamecocks took their first lead when Cardoso hit a layup to put them up 36-34. Both teams shot over 45% from the floor in the first half as South Carolina took a 49-46 advantage into the locker room.

The Gamecocks locked in defensively in the second half to hold Iowa to just nine points in the third quarter and 33.3% shooting for the entire half. That was highlighted by their effort in closing time, keeping the Hawkeyes scoreless over the final three minutes.

The national championship is the third in the career of coach Dawn Staley, who has been at South Carolina since the 2008-09 season. The Gamecocks have advanced to the Final Four each of the past four years and also finished the 2022-23 regular season undefeated.

This time, however, they were able to finish it off against the same Iowa team they lost to in the Final Four in 2023.