Louisiana State downs Iowa for first NCAA women’s basketball crown

Louisiana State University blew past the University of Iowa and national player of the year Caitlin Clark 102-85 on Sunday to win the coveted women’s NCAA collegiate basketball crown.

LSU scored the most points in the history of the women’s title game, an early three-point barrage staking them to a 17-point halftime lead.

Jasmine Carson led the Tigers with 22 points, 21 of them in the first half, while Alexis Morris scored all 16 of hers after the break.

Star center Angel Reese scored 15 points, pulled down 10 rebounds and handed out five assists and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.

Reese, who set a record with 34 double-doubles during the season, wasn’t shy about celebrating as the final moments ticked off in a game that saw LSU coach Kim Mulkey earn her sixth championship as a player or coach — her fourth as a head coach after she led Baylor to titles in 2005, 2012 and 2019.

Clark had shot to prominence with a 41-point triple-double in a victory over Louisville and followed that up with another 41-point outburst on Friday as the Hawkeyes stunned the unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks to reach the final.

Reese and Clark had helped drive massive interest, the womens’ final drawing a sell-out crowd of 19,482 in Dallas.

But it was Carson who took charge early. She finished with five of Louisiana State’s 11 three-pointers.

LSU also out-rebounded Iowa 37-26, their 14 offensive rebounds resulting in 14 second-chance points and Clark’s 30 points just weren’t enough.

Reese’s “you can’t see me” taunting of Clark in the waning seconds sparked criticism but Clark, a notorious trash-talker herself, insisted she wasn’t aware.