Watch postgame interviews with Iowa players and coaches
Watch postgame interviews with Iowa players and coaches
Box score from Iowa's win over South Carolina
» Final stats: Iowa 77, South Carolina 73
Watch full highlights from Iowa's win over South Carolina
Now everyone knows: No moment is too big for Caitlin Clark and Hawkeyes
DALLAS — For the first time in 67 years, a University of Iowa basketball team will …
Play for the national championship!!!
The Hawkeye women’s hoopers did what Las Vegas and Planet Basketball thought it couldn’t. They took down unbeaten, No. 1-ranked, defending-champion, 11.5-point favorite South Carolina’s Friday night at American Airlines Center.
The score was 77-73. It’s the very best, most-meaningful score in the history of Hawkeye women’s basketball, and one of the very best and most-meaningful scores in the history of sports in Iowa.
Final: Iowa 77, South Carolina 73
It happened.
Iowa ended South Carolina's 42-game winning streak, taking down the top-ranked, unbeaten Gamecocks in the national semifinals.
Caitlin Clark scored a national semifinal record 41 points and also had six rebounds and eight assists.
Iowa will play No. 3-seed LSU in the national championship game at 2:30 p.m. Sunday (ABC).
Can you believe it? pic.twitter.com/MHhEK10MkI
— Jeff Linder (@jtlinder) April 1, 2023
8.1 4th: Iowa 77, South Carolina 73
Two more Caitlin Clark free throws give her 41 points. South Carolina's Brea Beal fouled out.
9.9 4th: Iowa 75, South Carolina 73
Raven Johnson's putback keeps the Gamecocks in it. Timeout Iowa.
13.5 4th: Iowa 75, South Carolina 71
Caitlin Clark missed a deep 3 as the shot clock expired but McKenna Warnock pulled down a huge offensive rebound. Clark hit a pair of free throws to put the Hawkeyes up four.
Timeout South Carolina.
1:37 4th: Iowa 71, South Carolina 69
Aliyah Boston goes 1-for-2 at the line after a foul on the floor. Timeout Gamecocks.
2:02 4th: Iowa 71, South Carolina 68
Caitlin Clark has 35.
Take a deep breath
We hit the final media timeout. 4:39 4th: Iowa 69, South Carolina 65.
Foul trouble for Czinano
A fourth foul on Monika Czinano with 5:52 left ... She can't sit too long. Iowa has two more fouls to give before the bonus. South Carolina has zero fouls this quarter.
It's Caitlin Clark Time, and everyone everywhere knows it.
5:52 4th: Iowa 67, South Carolina 64
South Carolina scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to retake the lead, but Caitlin Clark responded with a 3 and an assist to Monika Czinano. She hit an even deeper 3 later and now has 31 points and eight assists.
CLARK FROM THE LOGO GETS THE CROWD ON THEIR FEET#WFinalFour x @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/mCxcO4iVR6
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 1, 2023
One more quarter.
Hawkeyes lead 59-55. They're doing what they do, and so is South Carolina. It's Ali-Frazier in a way. It's damn tense here, I know that.
End 3rd: Iowa 59, South Carolina 55
Monika Czinano hit a layup in the final seconds and South Carolina trails entering the fourth quarter for just the second time this season.
Caitlin Clark: 25 points, seven assists.
4:27 3rd: Iowa 51, South Carolina 45
McKenna Warnock's 3 put the Hawkeyes up eight before a Kamilla Cardoso bucket.
South Carolina is 1-for-14 from 3-point range.
7:41 3rd: Iowa 44, South Carolina 37
Monika Czinano was whistled for her third foul early in the half, but Iowa went on a 6-0 run anyway ... and Aliyah Boston just picked up her third foul as well.
Are you not entertained?
Iowa 38, South Carolina 37 at the half. We'll see what happens from here, but so far this is the game ESPN & its viewers wanted.
Iowa navigated the second quarter without Clark getting a third foul. Now comes a full plate of Aliyah Boston, who sat out the second quarter.
Half: Iowa 38, South Carolina 37
Gabbie Marshall's 3-pointer rimmed out at the buzzer but the Hawkeyes will still be happy with where they're at going to the break.
Caitlin Clark had 19 points and six assists in the first half. Zia Cooke led the Gamecocks with 18 points.
"We've got to set the tone on defense," Clark told ESPN's Holly Rowe. "I thought we could have boxed out a little bit better there in the second quarter, but if they're going to get the ball around the rim off a rebound we don't want to give up 3-point plays. Too many 3-point plays there. Can't put them at the free throw line.
"But we're going to come out with the mentality that we can win and I think it all starts with confidence. I thought we were very confident to start the game."
First South Carolina lead
South Carolina has the lead for the first time tonight. 32-31.
Iowa is in a three-plus-minute scoring drought.
4:40 2nd: Iowa 31, South Carolina 27
Caitlin Clark reached 1,000 points for the season with 16 so far on 7-for-12 shooting.
The Gamecocks' Laeticia Amihere disrupted her a bit with a steal and assist to Zia Cooke. The Hawkeyes went to the pick and roll on the next play and Clark swiftly found Monika Czinano for a layup.
Things we like to see: THIS#WFinalFour x @GamecockWBB pic.twitter.com/k9AceV68ds
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) April 1, 2023
8:17 2nd: Iowa 24, South Carolina 21
Caitlin Clark picked up her second foul on a Zia Cooke transition 3-point play following a Kamilla Cardoso block.
Lisa Bluder's first-quarter thoughts
Here's what the Iowa coach told ESPN's Holly Rowe:
They've done a great job. We just have to know our personnel. I think we're doing as good of a job as we can boxing out. It's tough. They're big. I'm really proud of Gabbie's defense right now. She's doing a great job. Of course we'vve gotten to the rim a couple times, which has been really nice.
End 1st: Iowa 22, South Carolina 13
It's a masterpiece of a first quarter for the Hawkeyes.
Caitlin Clark scored 11 first-quarter points and added four assists.
The Hawkeyes shot 9-for-16 from the field.
1:37 1st: Iowa 18, South Carolina 11
Gabbie Marshall intercepted a pass after a South Carolina rebound, pushed the pace and found Kate Martin for a transition 3.
Meanwhile, Aliyah Boston picked up her second foul chasing an offensive board.
Good start for the Hawkeyes
Iowa, up 11-6, couldn't have wanted a lot more from the first 5:45.
Playing hard-nosed defense so far and unafraid to attack a great South Carolina defense. Kate Martin has as many rebounds (5) as the Gamecocks.
Points in transition >>>#Hawkeyes
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 1, 2023
pic.twitter.com/0ZB9RUQXvq
4:15 1st: Iowa 11, South Carolina 6
Zia Cooke scored six early points for the Gamecocks, the rest of whom started 0-for-6. Her transition layup cut Iowa's lead to two ... and then Caitlin Clark drilled a 3-pointer seconds later. Clark already has seven points.
Just before the first media timeout, Hannah Steulke drew a charge on Aliyah Boston, the South Carolina star's first foul.
7:21 1st: Iowa 2, South Carolina 0
Iowa missed its first three shots before a Caitlin Clark layup. South Carolina has started 0-for-5.
Updated tipoff time
Looking at around 8:45 for Iowa-South Carolina.
A few notable Iowa fans
The McCaffery family is here to watch #Hawkeyes WBB. pic.twitter.com/CllNgCxvVL
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) April 1, 2023
FINAL: LSU 79, Virginia Tech 72.
Tigers with a 29-13 fourth quarter to advance to the final.
Up next: Iowa vs. South Carolina.
How to watch Iowa vs. South Carolina
Time: 8:30 p.m. (CT) Friday, March 31, 2023
TV: ESPN and ESPNU
Live stream: ESPN.com and ESPN+
TV announcers: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Andraya Carter, Holly Rowe
More viewing options: The Bird & Taurasi Show on ESPN2 and ESPN+, “Beyond the Rim” aerial view on ESPN+, “On the Rail” full-length floor view on ESPN+
Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network and Sirius XM Channel 84
Hawkeye fans were puttin’ on the Ritz in a highfalutin Huddle in Dallas
The 5-star Ritz-Carlton, Dallas probably hasn’t hosted too many events as “informal” as Friday afternoon’s Hawkeye Huddle.
The chain describes itself as one of the most-prestigious luxury hotels, with refined ambience. Enter hundreds and hundreds (and hundreds) of people wearing RAYGUN T-shirts and forming their usual long lines at stations selling alcoholic beverages.
Many, many an Iowa fan came to downtown Dallas several hours before the Hawkeyes’ 8:30 p.m. Final Four semifinal against mighty, mighty South Carolina at American Airlines Center. There was no putting on the Ritz, so to speak. Attire was casual, fandom was rabid.
First time Seven Nation Army has been blasted in the Ritz-Carlton? pic.twitter.com/hYTj4jastb
— John Steppe (@JSteppe1) March 31, 2023
Iowa vs. South Carolina: ‘This feels like a moment’
DALLAS — The media are supposed to ask the questions.
But in doing so, one sportswriter at the NCAA women’s basketball Final Four prefaced her query with the following statement:
“This feels like a moment.”
Nearly 2.5 million television viewers took in Iowa’s regional-final victory over Louisville on Sunday in Seattle, the most ever for a pre-Final Four game.
And when the third-ranked, Caitlin Clark-led Hawkeyes face No. 1, undefeated, defending-champion South Carolina Friday night? It could be the most-watched women’s game in history.