Caitlin Clark puts on 41-point masterclass as Iowa beats LSU 94-87 to exact revenge one year after defeat in NCAA Championship… as Angel Reese fouls out in her likely last game

BY ALEX RASKIN 

It’s rare that an Elite 8 matchup could get more attention than an NCAA Tournament finale, but that could be the case this year as Iowa and Louisiana State met in Albany on Monday for a rematch of the 2023 championship.

A year ago, LSU’s 102-85 victory over Iowa in the title game scored nearly 10 million viewers, making it the most-watched women’s basketball game ever. 

The primary players were all back this time: LSU coach Kim Mulkey and her star, ‘Bayou Barbie’ Angel Reese, as well as Iowa coach Lisa Bluder and Caitlin Clark, the reigning NCAA Player of the Year. 

And what little roster turnover there was only seemed to enhance this budding rivalry.

Bluder successfully replaced Monika Czinano’s scoring with power forward Hannah Stuelke, while guiding Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin to larger roles in 2023-24.

Mulkey, meanwhile was forced to replace Jasmine Carson, LaDazhia Williams and Alexis Morris, who combined for 65 points in last year’s final as Morris stepped up to ‘hold’ Clark to 30 points on defense.

This season, Mulkey relied heavily on the perimeter defense of sophomore Flau’jae Johnson as well as two transfers: ex-DePaul star Aneesah Morrow and former Louisville guard Hailey Van Lith.

And Monday wasn’t the first time Van Lith had faced Clark in the Elite 8. A year earlier, with her Cardinals facing Clark’s Hawkeyes in Seattle, Van Lith was outscored 41-27 by the Player of the Year as Iowa advanced to its first Final Four since 1993.

Along the way, Clark famously appeared to taunt Van Lith with wrestler John Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ hand gesture after burying her sixth 3-pointer of the night.

Van Lith has since claimed the gesture was actually directed at Iowa’s strength coach and not her, but there was certainly a degree of trash talking going on between herself and Clark. Another clip towards the end of Iowa’s win showed Clark telling Van Lith ‘you’re down by 15 points, shut up.’

Clark would get a taste of her own medicine a week later.

After upsetting defending-champion South Carolina in the Final Four, Clark was on the receiving end of Cena’s ‘You Can’t See Me’ routine, only that night, it was LSU’s Reese performing the honors.

The trio will forever be linked by the ensuing controversy, whether they even cared about it or not. 

For her part, Clark said she didn’t think Reese deserved accusations of bad sportsmanship. Van Lith, meanwhile, has suggested that detractors were more critical of Reese than Clark for doing the same gesture because of a racist double standard.

Undeniably, none of that mattered on Monday in Albany.

For that matter, neither did the Kim Mulkey saga.

Mulkey had been at the center of a media firestorm since blasting Washington Post reporter Kent Babb over a piece that wouldn’t be published until March 25. The profile raised questions about her treatment of LGBTQ+ players and quotes family members who say they have not talked to the decorated coach in several years.

Mulkey accused Babb of writing a one-sided ‘hit piece,’ although she admitted she declined the opportunity to give her side of the story for months before the article’s release.

She has even threatened to sue the Washington Post: ‘The lawyers will review it, and when this season is over, they’ll give me a call and say, this is our next step. I’m not reading that stuff.’

If Mulkey feared the WaPo article would serve as a distraction, her players proved otherwise in a 78-69 Sweet 16 victory over UCLA. 

Iowa, meanwhile, had an even easier time with Colorado in the Sweet 16, winning 89-68. 

And with that, the most-anticipated rematch in the history of women’s basketball was set.