The unthinkable becomes reality: Hawkeyes knock off undefeated South Carolina
The South Carolina Women’s Basketball team was the reigning national champion, they were the unanimous #1 in the country, they were 36-0, they had won 42 straight games and no one gave Iowa a chance. The only people that believed the Hawkeyes could win were the ones in the locker room and the ones wearing black and gold. But that’s why they take the floor and play 40 minutes of basketball. After those 40 minutes, it was the Iowa Hawkeyes that had done the unthinkable. They took down the Gamecocks 77-73 to advance to their first national title in program history.
“I’m so proud of my women because I think they’re the only people that really believed. I don’t think anybody else, unless you were in black and gold, believed that we were going to win that game,” said head coach Lisa Bluder. “The women in that circle, they believed, and we prepared all week as if we were going to win this game.”
The Hawkeyes came in as 12-point underdogs, but were not phased in the early going. South Carolina, who had scored 15 points or less in 27 quarters this season, was held to just 13 points on 6/18 shooting in the first quarter. Iowa took advantage of the slow start by the Gamecocks and led 22-13 after the first ten minutes. Caitlin Clark had 11 first quarter points, but the pick and roll was working early. Monika Czinano had three first quarter baskets. The key was getting out of the paint where a pair of 6’5+ players were roaming.
“I think it was really coming out of the paint and couldn’t really do what I normally did and just post-up down there,” said Czinano. “I had to come out and set ball screens and try to expose the screen and roll, and I think that worked out pretty well for us.”
The Gamecocks got a couple of second chance baskets and used a 10-4 run to cut the Iowa lead down to 26-23. Caitlin Clark came down and hit a three-pointer to make it 29-23 and keep the lead at a couple of possessions. South Carolina continued to battle back and a jumper from Zia Cooke gave them a 37-36 lead with under two minutes to play in the first half. While Aliyah Boston and Kamilla Cardoso combined for six first half points, Cooke picked up the slack with 18 first half points. A pair of free throws from Kate Martin gave Iowa a 38-37 lead, as the teams went in the locker room for the halftime break.
“That second quarter, we kind of took a little bit of a dive there (shooting). I wish Gabbie could have nailed that three going into the half, that would have been great momentum for us. But we still went in with a lead,” said Lisa Bluder. “We talked about 20 more minutes of basketball to beat South Carolina, and you’ve got a memory for a lifetime.”
Out of the locker room, it was the Hawkeyes, not the Gamecocks that went on the first run of the half. Caitlin Clark got a pair of shots to fall, while Addison O’Grady and Kate Martin each made baskets to cap an 8-0 run. The one-point halftime lead was all the sudden 46-37 just 2:33 into the second half.
Cardoso and Boston combined for ten points in the third quarter. A free throw from Aliyah Boston cut the Iowa lead to 53-51 with under three minutes to play. Monika Czinano had the last six points of the quarter for the Hawkeyes, including a tough look against the 6’7 Cardoso to give Iowa a 59-55 lead going into the final quarter. Czinano finished the game with 18 points on 6/8 shooting and 6/6 from the free throw line.
“If we could have probably allowed Czinano to have a little less opportunities, it could have flipped the other way,” said SC head coach Dawn Staley. “She was the one that put them over the top with her contributions, because we had everybody else in check.”
“All the credit goes to my teammates. They find me in positions that I am the most effective, and they do it game in and game out all the time,” said Czinano. “The confidence they have in me is quite unreal truly.”
The fourth quarter started with a short 5-0 run by the Gamecocks. Raven Johnson hit a three-pointer, which was followed by an Aliyah Boston basket to give SC a 60-59 lead. However, everytime South Carolina made a couple of baskets, the Hawkeyes had an answer. This time, they answered with a pair of Caitlin Clark three-pointers and a Monika Czinano layup. The Hawkeyes went on an 8-2 run to make it 67-62 with 7:26 to play.
Down the stretch, it seemed like whenever Iowa needed a basket, Caitlin Clark just took it to the hoop for a layup. Three straight Iowa baskets via Clark getting to the rim gave Iowa a 73-69 lead with under 1:30 to play. She was credited with seven driving layups on the night.
“They were guarding Mon pretty high up, and that allowed me to get to the rim. I thought we were dragging their rim protectors away from the rim, where they’re not used to being,” said Clark.
Although South Carolina racked up 26 offensive rebounds, it was an Iowa board that was the biggest of the game. With Iowa leading 73-71, Caitlin Clark put up a three-point shot as the shot clock expired. The shot missed and careened off the rim and into the arms of McKenna Warnock for an offensive rebound with 18 seconds to play. It was the game clinching board.
“It kind of fell in my lap. That’s what we wanted in those moments, we wanted some of those to bounce our way,” said Warnock. “Just get it to Caitlin (was my thought)…I’m glad I could come up with that one.”
Caitlin Clark went four for four at the line in the closing seconds and the Hawkeyes were able to pull off the 77-73 upset victory over the previously undefeated Gamecocks.
“I think I’m just really, really thankful to be in this position more than anything. Like Coach Bluder said, probably everybody in America picked South Carolina, deservedly so. They’ve been ranked No. 1 all year. They’ve won 42 straight basketball games. Why wouldn’t you pick them?,” said Clark. “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. We just do it for the person to our left and our right.”
On a night, where the coaching matchup included Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley, she was the second best coach on the floor. Lisa Bluder employed an impressive gameplan on both ends of the floor and it worked to perfection.
“We really mostly ran our offense that we run every single game. But when we saw that we were able to score on some ball screens, we tried to emphasize that a little bit more,” said Bluder. “It was really just a lot of screening action and floor balance.”
“I loved our game plan, pack the paint. At times I wasn’t even really two feet out of the paint. We were going to live with them making threes. I thought Johnson came through and made some tough threes in situations where they really needed it, but we never got discouraged or anything like that,” said Clark. “(We) made them earn it around the rim. Obviously they got some O boards, but at the same time, nobody said we were going to outrebound them. That would have been a lie.”
The Iowa defense held South Carolina to 30/77 (39.0%) shooting from the floor and 4/20 (20.0%) from three-point range. The Hawkeyes forced 15 turnovers and turned it into 18 points. The Gamecocks were only able to turn 26 offensive rebounds into 24 points (.92 ppr).
Caitlin Clark finished with 41 points on 15/31 shooting, while also racking up eight assists and five rebounds. Monika Czinano added 18 points, while Kate Martin had seven points and seven rebounds.
Against the top defense in the country, the Hawkeyes scored 77 points, which equals the most points the Gamecocks allowed all season. Iowa shot 49.1% from the floor, which is the third highest allowed by South Carolina all season.
Up next for the Hawkeyes…
The National Title Game. The Hawkeyes will battle Kim Mulkey and the LSU Tigers for a chance to earn the program their first ever national title. The game will be televised on ABC, with a tipoff time set for 2:30pm CT. A full game preview will be out on Sunday morning.
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