Clark leads Iowa back to Final 4, scoring 41 points in win over defending champion LSU

Caitlin Clark made nine 3-pointers and finished with 41 points and 12 assists in a sensational performance as Iowa knocked defending national champion LSU out of the women's NCAA Tournament with a 94-87 victory on Monday night, in Albany, N.Y. advancing the Hawkeyes to their second straight Final Four.

Top-seeded Iowa (33-4) will play UConn in the national semifinals Friday in Cleveland after the Huskies defeated Southern California 80-73.

"This one probably feels a little bit better. It's my senior year, with this group," Clark said. "A lot of people counted us out at the beginning of the year with the people we lost. And all we did was work really hard. To get back here is really hard. This regional was loaded with so much talent. The job's not finished."

Monday's highly anticipated matchup was a rematch of last year's national championship game won by LSU, which drew a record 9.9 million viewers. Both teams wished this meeting had come later in the tournament instead of with a Final Four berth at stake, but that was out of their control.

Clark, who also scored 41 points in the regional finals last year, and Angel Reese of LSU put on a memorable show for the sold-out crowd and the millions watching.

With the game tied at 45 after an entertaining first half, Clark took over in the third quarter. The NCAA Division 1 all-time scoring leader hit four 3-pointers, each deeper than the previous one. Her fourth of the quarter, from her signature logo range, made it 61-52. It also was the 538th of her career, which made her the all-time leader in that category among NCAA Division 1 players, passing Oklahoma's Taylor Robertson.

Flau'jae Johnson scored 23 points for No. 3 seed LSU (31-6), which fell short of becoming the first repeat champion since UConn in 2016. Reese finished with 17 points and 20 rebounds before fouling out with 1:45 left.

Iowa's lead ballooned to 65-52 before LSU scored six straight points. The Tigers trailed 69-58 heading into the fourth quarter before scoring the first five points to get within 69-63.

But they got no closer as Clark wouldn't let the Hawkeyes lose. Her ninth 3-pointer, which tied the NCAA record for most in a tournament game, made it 80-69 with 5:05 left. She pumped her chest as she ran back down the court and yelled to the adoring crowd.

The game got off to a quick start and the first quarter was an offensive clinic by both teams. Clark got the scoring going early, much to the delight of a pro-Iowa crowd. She hit a 3 to start the game, breaking a tie with Diana Taurasi for most 3-pointers in NCAA Tournament history.

Iowa led 17-9 before LSU coach Kim Mulkey called a timeout. That seemed to settle her team down as the Tigers outscored the Hawkeyes 22-9 the rest of the quarter behind Reese, who finished the opening 10 minutes with 10 points, five rebounds and three assists to go along with two steals.

The Tigers got a scare in the second quarter when Reese went down trying to block Clark's shot. She went down on the baseline and hopped off the court. The trainers looked at her right ankle and she rode a stationary bike for a few minutes before returning to the game. Reese was a little slower getting up the court but otherwise appeared unaffected.

Johnson made an acrobatic shot just before the halftime buzzer to tie the game. Clark had 19 points in the first half.

UConn defeats USC

Stuck as a spectator during last year's women's NCAA Tournament, Paige Bueckers didn't waste a moment this time. Every drive to the basket, every deflection on defense, every tumble to the floor was about doing everything possible to get UConn back to the Final Four.

Or, as Huskies coach Geno Auriemma put it, "Today was Paige doing Paige things."

Bueckers carried UConn to the national semifinals, scoring 28 points in the Huskies' victory over USC. 

Bueckers outduelled fabulous USC freshman All-American JuJu Watkins, sparking a decisive run over the final five minutes that sent third-seeded UConn (33-5) to its 23rd national semifinal, the most of any school. Leading 65-64, the Huskies scored 11 straight points, including seven from Bueckers and a three-point play from Canada's Aaliyah Edwards to finally put away the top-seeded Trojans (29-6).

"Today was one of the most rewarding feelings I've ever felt in my life," Bueckers said.

Edwards finished with 24 points, and this Final Four trip will rank as one of the most unlikely in Auriemma's 39-year tenure. Beset by injuries that left them with only eight healthy players, including the loss of two starters, the Huskies managed minutes, fouls and exhaustion to win the Portland 3 Region a year after seeing a string of 14 straight Final Four appearances snapped.

Bueckers was sidelined by a major knee injury last year when that streak ended. She reached the Final Four as a freshman, when she was the national player of the year, but she hasn't played a full season since because of injuries, even though she made it to the title game with UConn as a sophomore.

Bueckers sat out all of last season but is back and possibly better than ever. On one of the biggest nights in the history of the women's game, following a tremendous performance by Clark in a win over LSU, Bueckers hit 11 of 23 shots and finished with 10 rebounds and six assists.