Skip to main content
iowa logo

WATCH: Iowa Women's Basketball takes the court for practice at the American Airlines Center

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann•03/30/23•

HuesmannKyle

watch-iowa-womens-basketball-practice-american-airlines-center
Photo by Dennis Scheidt

The Iowa Women’s Basketball team has been in Dallas all week ahead of their Final Four matchup on Friday against 1 seed South Carolina. The Hawkeyes celebrated Caitlin Clark’s Naismith Player of the Year Award announcement on Wednesday and took the floor for practice early this afternoon. The practice session was open to the public at the American Airlines Center.

Iowa is making their second Final Four appearance in program history and is looking to make it to the National Title game for the first time. Their opponent, South Carolina, is making their fourth ever Final Four appearance and is seeking their third national title. The Hawkeyes are 0-1 in the Final Four, while the Gamecocks are 2-2 in national semifinal games. It will be the second all-time meeting between the programs, with South Carolina winning the previous matchup back in 1989.

Both teams have had their fair share of accolades throughout the season. Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder was named a semifinalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award, while South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley was named the winner of the award yesterday afternoon. For Iowa, PG Caitlin Clark was named Naismith Player of the Year, while also winning the Big Ten Player of the Year award. C Monika Czinano earned First Team All-Big Ten honors and F McKenna Warnock was an honorable mention. True freshman F Hannah Stuelke was named Big Ten Sixth Player of the Year.

On the South Carolina side, C Aliyah Boston was a finalist for the Naismith Player of they Year and won the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award, as well as SEC Player of the Year. C Kamilla Cardoso was named SEC Sixth Player of the Year, while G Zia Cooke was a First Team All-SEC selection. True freshman G Raven Johnson was an All-SEC Freshman Team selection.

South Carolina defeated 16 seed Norfolk State (72-40), 8 seed South Florida (76-45), 4 seed UCLA (59-43) and 2 seed Maryland (86-75) on their path to Dallas. Iowa defeated 15 seed SE Louisiana (95-43), 10 seed Georgia (74-66), 6 seed Colorado (87-77) and 5 seed Louisville (97-83).

The Hawkeyes and Gamecocks are set to face off on Friday at 8:30pm CT on ESPN. The winner will advacne to Sunday’s National Title Game against either 3 seed LSU or 1 seed Virginia Tech.

Here are some clips from the Hawkeyes practice session…

You may also like