LSU claims first women's basketball national championship in school history with 102-85 victory against Iowa

LSU was in control from start to finish on its way to a dominant victory against Iowa to claim the national championship on Sunday. The Tigers led for the entire second half on their way to a 102-85 win against the Hawkeyes to claim the first women’s basketball national title in program history.

The national championship is the fourth in the career of LSU coach Kim Mulkey, with her previous three coming as the coach at Baylor. She is in just her second season in Baton Rouge after taking over in 2021-22 for a team that won just nine games the year before.

LSU saw five players score in double figures, including a 22-point effort from Jasmine Carson off the bench. Forward Angel Reese set a women’s Division 1 record with her 34th double-double of the season to finish with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

The 102 points scored by the Tigers were the most ever in a championship game. They finished the game with incredibly efficient shooting numbers of 37-of-69 (53.6%) from the field and 10-of-16 (62.5%) from 3-point range.

LSU overcame a big performance from Iowa guard Caitlin Clark, who set an NCAA Tournament record for both points scored and 3-pointers made across the entire tournament in Sunday’s game. Clark finished 30 points and eight assists on 8-of-19 shooting from deep, but it wasn’t enough to get past a balanced scoring attack from the Tigers. She was held scoreless from the 3:54 mark of the third quarter until 5:21 remaining as she dealt with foul trouble.

The first quarter got off to a high-scoring start, as LSU held a 27-22 lead after the first 10 minutes. It didn’t take long for Clark to make her presence felt, as she made four 3-pointers in the opening quarter to account for 14 of Iowa’s 22 points.

The Tigers continued to build on their lead in the second quarter. After the Hawkeyes took a 32-31 lead with 7:22 to go in the first half, the Tigers went on a 10-2 run to take it right back. Clark picked up her third foul with 3:26 left in the half as LSU outscored Iowa 10-4 from that point to take a commanding 59-42 lead into the locker room.

LSU improved upon a 59-42 halftime lead increase its advantage to 21 points with a couple of quick scores to start the third quarter. Iowa showed it wasn’t going to go down easy, however, going on a 15-2 run from that point to bring the deficit back to single digits. However, Clark and Monika Czinano both picked up their fourth fouls in the third quarter as the Tigers led 75-64 heading into the fourth.

Iowa briefly cut the lead back down to single digits on a 3-pointer from Kate Martin with 8:45 to play. But LSU scored six straight points after that as Czinano later fouled out to seemingly seal the Hawkeyes’ fate.