On April 1, 2024, Iowa played Louisiana State University in the Elite Eight match of March Madness Women’s Basketball Tournament. In the final game of the 2023 tournament, Iowa played LSU where Iowa fell short of the championship. LSU ended up winning the game with a final score of 102-85.
The Iowa vs LSU game was highly anticipated with 103% growth in the game. Both star players Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese brought in hardcore fans of both LSU and Iowa.
For many people, this game made or broke their brackets for the March Madness game. This, year, over four million people filled out a Women’s March Madness bracket.
When it comes to March Madness, it’s not about the brackets for basketball stars Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. To Reese and Clark, it is about going out on the court and putting points up to get a win.
Both Clark and Reese have been asked many times if there is any drama or hate for each other, but both have made it very clear to the media that it’s not “about , friendships but winning.” Even though they are seen smack-talking each other and being aggressive on the court, both have nothing but good things to say about one another.
With such high pressure, both seem to be dealing with it pretty well. Iowa has the pressure of making a comeback from last year’s March Madness loss. On the other hand, LSU has a lot of pressure from fans to stay focused even after The Washington Post released an article that some may see as controversial on Mulkey’s character.
The Washington Post released an article called “The Kim Way” just an hour and a half before LSU’s Sweet Sixteen match against UCLA. Even with all of the press and attention from the “article” the team was able to win 78-69 and advance to the Elite Eight.
As for Iowa, Clark seems to be carrying a lot of the pressure on her shoulders. On Feb. 29 ,2024 Clark took to Instagram to announce that she would not be returning to Iowa to play college basketball but would be entering the WNBA draft for the 2024-2025 season. Clark not only created a name for herself, but also for Iowa. Clark has done so by breaking records and becoming a fan favorite, not just for Iowans but for people in every state, and even celebrities. This game would be Clark’s last chance to get a championship for Iowa. As the game started many people sat down to enjoy the rematch of Iowa vs LSU.
The game started off with LSU winning the tip-off, then Iowa was able to get a turnover which led to Iowa being up in points in the elite eight game. After the first quarter, Iowa was in the lead.
Moving forward into the second quarter, LSU seemed to have found their fighting spirit as they took the lead. Reese was taken out of the second quarter after what seemed to be an injury in her knee. She was not out for long and returned to the second quarter and scored right after.
At the end of the second quarter, LSU tied up the game with Iowa with a score of 45-45.
During the third quarter of the game, both teams were back-and-forth Iowa was able to break the game of back and forth, gaining the lead and ending the third quarter with a score of 69-58.
Both teams came into the fourth quarter hot and ready to play. At the start of the fourth, LSU was the first to make a point but Iowa would not back done. During the fourth quarter Clark, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin really started to work the ball, putting up some great shots.
During the fourth quarter, LSU Coach Kim Mulkey took a timeout after many of her star players had four fouls. Not soon after the timeout, Resse for LSU fouled out of the game. Following this, Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke fouled out of the game as well. Even after having two-star players, one from each team, fouled out, both teams still played hard and kept the game intense. With only 7.9 seconds left, Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder takes the last timeout where the score was 94-87 with Iowa in the lead.
After the time out, the 7.9 seconds ran down on the clock with the ball in Clark’s hands as Iowa won the game 94-87. Iowa advanced to the final four in Cleveland Ohio where they against UConn.
