Women’s March Madness 2024: Elite Eight tournament takeaways
Almost exactly a year after LSU beat Iowa to win the 2023 national title, Caitlin Clark & Co. avenged the loss and are now headed to the Final Four.
The game on Monday night was a back-and-forth affair in the first half before the No. 1 seed Hawkeyes pulled away in the third quarter. On the back of a 41-point, 12-assist night from Clark, Iowa defeated the 3-seeded Tigers 94-87 in Albany.
In Cleveland, Iowa will join the nation’s only undefeated college basketball team, men’s or women’s. No. 1 seed South Carolina fended off No. 3 seed Oregon State on Sunday to earn its fourth consecutive trip to the national semifinals with a 70-58 win in Region 1 in Albany.
The Gamecocks will face NC State after the No. 3 seed Wolfpack upset No. 1 seed Texas in Portland 76-66. It will be NC State’s first trip to the Final Four in 26 years (1998).
Just one game remains before the Final Four is set. In Region 3 in Portland on Monday (9 p.m. ET, ESPN), freshman JuJu Watkins leads top-seeded USC into the Elite Eight against Paige Bueckers and 3-seed UConn.
The Trojans seek their first Final Four since 1986, while the Huskies are looking to get back to the national semifinals a year after their NCAA-record streak of 14 consecutive Final Four appearances was snapped.
Here’s what we learned in each Elite Eight game — and how we reseeded the field ahead of the regional finals.
1:54
Caitlin Clark’s 41-point master class propels Iowa to the Final Four
Caitlin Clark tallies 41 points and nine 3-pointers as Iowa topples LSU and heads to the Final Four.
If Caitlin Clark plays this well, is a national title in Iowa’s future? When the game’s best player plays at or near her best, it sometimes doesn’t matter what the opponent does. Clark made a 3-pointer to start the scoring 14 seconds into the game, and it set the stage for a memorable night. She finished with 41 points, 12 assists, 7 rebounds and nine 3-pointers, tying an NCAA tournament single-game record. Clark made nine…
