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“SOUTH CAROLINA–UNBEATEN”
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It was a fabulous 3-weeks of Women’s college basketball, but all things come to an end.

For Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Lady Hawkeyes, they got beat at their own game, and got beaten by a deep-gifted-athletic South Carolina team that featured  size, stamina, defense and shooters..

It was a roller coaster of a day.

Iowa stormed to a (10-0) lead from tipoff, and led (20-9) early.  But this was unbeaten South Carolina, and they tied it (27-27).  USC survived Clark’s 18-point first quarter as she launched shots from everywhere.

But USC imposed its defensive will on Iowa in the comeback, and the Lady Gamecocks huge size changed the game.  By halftime they led (49-46).

It got tougher and tougher for Iowa as the day wore on.  They body banged thru picks, knocked Clark down 4-times.  They put hands in her face.  They doubled her and denied her good looks.

Kam Cardosa, the monster 6’7-center from Brazil, owned the glass and that eventually wore down Iowa’s bigs.  Cardosa finished with 15-points..17-rebounds and 3-blocks.

USC finished the day with a (51-29) rebounding edge.
They scored 48 in the paint
That defense had 8-blocks and 8-steals, that’s 16-possessions Clark couldn’t hurt you.

As good as the Hawkeyes bigs had played leading into Sunday’s war, they could not offset the Gamecocks bigs.

Tessa Johnson rifled hom 19-most from outside, and USC hit 8-critical 3’s along the way, helping them get back in the game or stunt Iowa’s comebacks.

Iowa was down 14-came back to trail by 5, but Iowa went scoreless the final 9-possessions of the game, and it was over.

Clark heads to the NBA with a 30-point final outing.  She was emotionless and just did everything she could during the season.

It will be fun to see how Clark, Cardosa, Angel Reese and so many others do in the WNBA.

They have brought enormous credibility and respect to the women’s game.  They’ve helped grow it to the point the TV rating for Friday night’s semifinal was (14.2M) viewers.  Sunday’s game might have topped 15M

The men take center stage on Monday in Phoenix in the battle of the bigs, UConn-Purdue, the centers, the coaches, the shooting guards.

Years ago, decades ago, Title IX came into being.  Sunday’s women’s final was a tribute to what women’s sports could become.

Great players, talent, execution, coaches, teams.

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