The magic ride fell one stop short of its intended destination. Behind a bench scoring surge and a second quarter for the ages from Jasmine Carson, LSU built a big lead and then staved off a second-half Hawkeye charge.
The Tigers topped Iowa, 102-85, to capture the program’s first national championship.
It’s a bitter final pill to swallow for the Iowa Hawkeyes (31-7, 15-3 Big Ten). After a remarkable run to the national championship game, the lasting takeaway for some will be oh so close.
The heartbreak of losing in the national title game is only natural.
It isn’t the lasting memory with this bunch, though. The lasting memory is how the nation’s top duo—Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano—and a talented supporting cast took the Hawkeyes to a place it had never been before.
Right on the precipice of the final coronation.
And back to the Final Four for the first time in 30 years where they beat a South Carolina team that the nation thought couldn’t be beaten. What a ride this has been from a historic Hawkeye squad.
The story is how much this team improved as the season went along. What a coaching job by Lisa Bluder. Remember when this group was 5-3 to start? A trip to the Final Four didn’t feel like it was in the cards back then.
Not after a loss at Kansas State and then back-to-back losses to UConn and North Carolina State.
Certainly there was doubt after Iowa went to College Park, Md., and was handily beaten and embarrassed by Maryland, 96-68. Iowa watched its Big Ten regular season title hopes sink away that evening.
What happened next?
The Hawkeyes played their best basketball. Caitlin Clark authored up an incredible buzzer-beating, game-winning moment against a great Indiana squad.
Then, the Hawkeyes avenged their Maryland loss and delivered a historic blowout of Ohio State to go back-to-back as Big Ten Tournament champs.
And then, of course, a sprint to the national championship game with a win over the Gamecocks that ranks right up there with any in the history of Iowa athletics.
Along the way, Caitlin Clark wowed some of the world’s biggest stars. That makes sense because she was doing things we’ve never seen done before on a basketball court. For example, a 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight win over Louisville and then another 40-point outing against South Carolina.
This loss hurts because you know it’s the end of the road for Czinano with this program, too. And it feels like the script isn’t right for a duo in Clark and Czinano that will no doubt leave Iowa City as one of the Hawkeyes’ finest—and maybe greatest—in any sport.
What a decision to return, though. All of this isn’t possible without Czinano.
Caitlin Clark put on one final never-before-seen show, knocking down a record eight 3-pointers in the title game. But, that incredible connection with Czinano guided all of this happening the way it did for Iowa.
Czinano exits as a Hawkeye great in her own right.
The supporting cast deserves its flowers, too. Kate Martin, McKenna Warnock and Gabbie Marshall all played big roles in this run.
Along with Clark and Czinano, that core has combined to win 75 times in the last three seasons.
While this national championship loss stings, none of these accomplishments have been lost on the Iowa fanbase. Iowa fans took to Twitter to celebrate an incredible season and a tournament run that goes down in the Hawkeye history books.