After falling short at the hands of the LSU Tigers last year, Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes get another shot at an NCAA Women’s Basketball title this weekend. After taking down the same LSU team in the Elite 8 to advance to this weekends Final Four, the Hawkeyes get UConn and Paige Bueckers in the second national semi final game tonight at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
Head Coach Lisa Bluder expressed her teams excitement, “We are obviously extremely excited to be here. This is everybody’s goal, right, at the beginning of the year, to be in the Final Four and have the opportunity to play for a national championship.
When we were here last year, nobody thought we’d be here again this year. And we didn’t listen to anybody. We just listened to the people in our locker room and our family and our circle, and here we are again. So I’m proud of the women and how they kept believing no matter what. Obviously we have one of the best players in the country on our team, and we’re thrilled to have that. But I do not want this to be a game that’s promoted as Caitlin versus Paige. And I know it already has been. But I don’t want that. I want it to be Iowa versus UConn and let these two women do what they do best.”
If Iowa continues to shoot, rebound and pass like they did in the second half of the LSU game, they will be hard to beat tonight. UConn has its own mega star in Bueckers but Iowa has more depth on the bench and with their up tempo style of play, the Huskies lack of depth might come into play in the second half. Look for Iowa to keep the tempo fast and to get Clark into positions early to get good shots off and to get her teammates involved on the break.
Final Four coverage is brought to you by Muscatine Lumber, All Seasons Glass, HNI Corporation and Sedona Staffing. Listen for the game with Bob Brook’s play by play on FM 95.1/AM 860 KWPC starting at 6pm.
