Caitlin Clark triple-double leads Iowa to the Final Four
The Iowa women’s basketball team made history on Sunday night and Caitlin Clark fulfilled her dream . The Hawkeyes pulled away for a 97-83 victory over Louisville to advance to the Final Four in Dallas on Friday evening.
Iowa was fueled by All American Caitlin Clark who posted a record setting triple-double of 41 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds. The Hawkeyes will face the winner of the Maryland/South Carolina game. They play on Monday night on ESPN.
The Hawkeyes didn’t get off to a great start in this Elite Eight contest in Seattle. Louisville scored the first 8 points of the game and Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder quickly called a timeout. Whatever she said it worked. Clark came out and went on her own personal seven point run to pull within one.
Chrislyn Clark hit back to back three pointers for Louisville to put the Cardinals up 18-14. Then Iowa went on another run, this time 9-0, capped by back to back triples from Clark and Kate Martin. From that point on, Iowa never trailed in this game.
The Iowa lead grew to 41-29 after a Clark three pointer, but the Cardinals closed strong, outscoring Iowa 14-7 to put the Hawkeyes up 48-43 at the break.
It looked like Louisville was ready to make a run in the second half, opening the third quarter by scoring the first four points to cut the lead to one, 48-47.
Then it was the Caitlin Clark show that took over once again. She drilled a pair of three’s to go with a layup by McKenna Warnock and the first three pointer of the night for Gabbie Marshall. The 11-0 run game Iowa a 59-47 edge.
Louisville cut the lead back down to seven at 59-52 and then Iowa closed the third quarter with another huge run led by Clark scoring and dishing to teammates. It was an 18-3 run and Iowa was up 78-57 after they outscore the Cardinals 30-16.
But, the game was not over. After Iowa was pulling away and seemingly in control, Louisville went on a 13-1 run to get the lead down to ten, 86-76. The Hawkeyes then closed it out from the foul line and advanced to the Final Four.
