LSU claims national title over Iowa led by bench, coach Kim Mulkey

DALLAS — It was a record-setting day on many levels, but LSU didn’t win the national title with its stars alone.

LSU and Iowa feature national sensations, but it was the Tigers’ bench, especially graduate transfer Jasmine Carson, that was the catalyst in their 102-85 win. It was the first national championship in program history — men’s or women’s — and fourth for head coach and Louisiana native Kim Mulkey. LSU’s 102 points are a championship game record, and Angel Reese notched her 34th double-double, the most in Division I history.

Carson, who came into the game averaging 8.4 points in nearly 22 minutes and who Mulkey said “may be the second best pure shooter that I’ve ever coached,” hit all seven first-half shots she took, while some of her fellow Tigers faced foul trouble. The guard, who previously played at Georgia Tech and West Virginia, had 21 of her team-high 22 points by halftime. Alexis Morris had 21 points and nine assists, La Dazhia Williams had 20, and Flau’jae Johnson added 10 points, while Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds.

“She gave us a huge spark off the bench tonight,” Morris said. “She was the game-changer tonight. Thank you, Jaz, for being a senior and being who you are too. Appreciate you, bro.”

For her efforts, Carson also entered the record books tied for fourth-most points in a half in a Final Four game.

“When I woke up, I just wanted to win,” Carson said. “I wanted to do anything that my team needed in this game, whether it was defense, rebounding, just anything, supporting them.”

Iowa started hot, but Mulkey wasn’t having it.

The LSU coach, clad in a gold, pink, and black tiger-print sequin suit, called a timeout less than two minutes into the game — “We didn’t come over there singing ‘Kumbaya,’” she said — and the reset worked.

LSU’s defense shut down the Hawkeyes late in the first quarter, holding them without a field goal for the period’s last 3 minutes, 49 seconds.

But at first, Caitlin Clark was there every time, putting an end to any momentum the Tigers had. She had 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting in the first 10 minutes, but just two in the second quarter and finished with a game-high 30 — but only one field goal inside the arc. Kate Martin and Monika Czinano had 13 points each, while Gabbie Marshall added 12.

» READ MORE: LSU still plans to stay the course now facing Caitlin Clark’s Iowa in the NCAA women’s final

LSU continued to flummox Iowa throughout the second quarter. Meanwhile, Carson came alive. She scored 16 of her first-half points and made up the majority of the Tigers’ 30-8 advantage in bench points.

“This wasn’t about me,” Reese said. “This is all about the supporting cast. Everybody has played a role all season. Tonight just coming from the bench, [Carson], [Last-Tear] Poa, Sa’Myah [Smith], they came and stepped up and played big.”

LSU’s lead grew to double figures on another three by Carson before Marshall again found the basket at the 3:56 mark. The Tigers began to get hot from beyond the arc, growing their lead into double figures. They closed the half on a 7-0 run, outscoring Iowa, 32-20, to take a 59-42 lead into the break.

With LSU up, 62-42, Clark hit a three, her first field goal since the 3:49 of the first quarter, and Iowa began to chip away, cutting the deficit to 63-54 on a wide-open three by Marshall to cap a 12-0 run and send the Iowa half of the sold-out American Airlines Center into a frenzy. The 19,482 broke the NCAA Final Four women’s attendance record. The 357,542 who attended the 2023 tournament broke a 20-year record of 334,587.

But foul trouble became an issue for Iowa. Shortly after a strange stoppage in which referees reviewed an apparent elbow by Czinano on a bucket of hers with 2:58 left, the Iowa forward/center was called for her fourth foul. Following the call, Clark bounced the ball behind her back and toward the baseline and was called for a technical — her fourth foul of the game. Czinano was called for her fifth foul, a charge, with 6:25 left. Hawkeyes coach Lisa Bluder said the circumstances were “too bad.” Overall, 37 fouls were called.

“Man, I felt good right then,” Bluder said of cutting the deficit to seven. “I felt like, OK, we got this. Then, of course, we have the foul, the technical foul, that stuff, and it just gets out of hand at that point.I felt really good when we got it to seven. I thought we were going to do it. I really did. My team thought they were going to do it.”

The Tigers used a 6-0 run early in the fourth quarter to stretch their lead to 83-69 and force an Iowa timeout. The Hawkeyes had no answers for the Tigers’ offense, which continued to pull away, using one last 6-0 run in the final two minutes to seal the win and bring a title back to the bayou. LSU also became the third No. 3 seed, and first since the 90s, to win the tournament.

» READ MORE: Caitlin Clark and Iowa shock Dawn Staley’s South Carolina; will face LSU in NCAA championship game

Iowa, which was in the championship game for the first time itself, needs time to process the defeat, but Bluder, Clark, and Czinano were excited for what’s to come in the women’s game as records continue to fall.

“It’s so fun to be able to be part of this game at this point,” Bluder said. “When I started playing, it wasn’t like this at all. It wasn’t like this even 15 years ago. You know what, it’s just great to see people realizing the power of women athletes and people respecting women athletes. … These women are strong. They’re leaders. And for people to recognize that and want to support them — businesses, corporations wanting to support them, it’s wonderful. And I’m just so glad I’ve gotten to see this happen.”

Reese was the Final Four most outstanding player and featured on the all-tournament team alongside Morris, Carson, and Clark. South Carolina’s Zia Cooke rounded out the fivesome.

Twitter had strong reactions to Reese’s celebrating — pointing to her ring finger and waving her hand in front of her face à la John Cena toward Clark, who did the Cena move during Iowa’s Elite Eight game against Louisville — but the star forward said those gestures were bigger than her.

“I’m happy. I mean, all year I was critiqued about who I was,” she said. “I don’t fit the narrative. I don’t fit in a box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. Y’all told me that all year. But when other people do it, y’all say nothing. So this was for the girls that look like me, that’s going to speak up on what they believe in. It’s unapologetically you. That’s what I did it for tonight. It was bigger than me tonight. It was bigger than me. Twitter is going to go on a rage every time, and I’m happy. I feel like I’ve helped grow women’s basketball this year. I’m super happy and excited.”

Local athletes like St. Joe’s alumna Natasha Cloud weighed in.

First Lady Dr. Jill Biden attended the national championship game Sunday and was seen viewing the action from a box with tennis legend Billie Jean King, among others. Biden, famously a Philly sports fanatic, has been spotted at other major sporting events this year like the Super Bowl and Game 4 of the World Series.

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