The Iowa Hawkeyes won the Number Three LSU Tigers 94-87 in Albany, N.Y., during a hard-fought first-round game in the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. The Hawkeyes will advance to the Final Four in Cleveland, where they will play the winner of the game USC Trojans and Connecticut Huskies.
Monday's highly-anticipated showdown reunited stars Angel Reese and Caitlin Clarke, whose rivalry has captivated the nation leading up to the big game. While LSU star Reese was dominant in the first half and finished with 17 points and 20 rebounds, the Tigers struggled to maintain momentum in the second half. Clark dropped 41 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds, while teammates Kate Martin and Sydney Affalter dipped into double figures, adding 21 and 16 respectively.
The night was a rematch of last year's championship game, which saw the Tigers win 102-85 over the Hawkeyes to claim their first championship in program history – at the time, it was the most-watched NCAA women's basketball final , with nearly 13 million people watching at peak viewership. In the final seconds, when it was obvious the Tigers would take the trophy, Reese appeared to taunt Clark by playing “You can't see me” by John Cena hand movement.
The moment sparked a year of intense debate among sports commentators and fans about the racial narratives created around white and black players. Clarke had celebrated the same move two games ago when Iowa faced Louisville. However, critics were quick to call Reese's gesture “classless” and in response, many on social media, including professional athletes, invoked the racist double standard.
In separate statements during a Sunday Press conferencebefore any Tigers and Hawkeyes players set foot on the field Monday night, Reese and Clark set the record straight — there was absolutely no beef between them.
“I don't think people realize it's not personal,” Rees said when asked about the trash. “Once we get out between those lines, if I see you walking down the street, it's like, 'Hey, girl, what's up?' Let's root.' I think people take it as if we hate each other. Me and Caitlin Clarke don't hate each other. I want everyone to understand that. It's just a hyper-competitive game. Once I get between those lines, there are no friends. I'll talk to you about trash. I'll do whatever it takes to get you through the whole game, but after the game, we can do it. I don't think people really realize that.” She said her relationship with Clark is “hyper-competitive,” stating that the two have been playing each other since high school.
“There's definitely that competitive fire,” Clark said. “We both want to win more than anything, and that's the way it should be when you're a competitor and you're in a situation like this, whether it was the national championship or the Elite Eight.
“I think that's the main similarity is how competitive we are,” Clark continued. “We both grew up loving this game and will do everything we can to help our teams win.”
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