The Iowa Hawkeyes are again within the ladies’s last for the second 12 months in a row, however not and not using a little bit of controversy.
Iowa battled by way of a tricky first half against UConn the place star shooter Caitlin Clark was restricted to simply six factors. A late surge within the second half, coupled with pivotal three-pointers from Clark, stored Iowa within the race.
Caitlin Clark, #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes, celebrates as Nika Muhl, #10 and Aaliyah Edwards, #3, of the UConn Huskies react after a foul known as in opposition to UConn within the second half throughout the NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Match Last 4 semifinal recreation at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 5, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. (Steph Chambers/Getty Pictures)
However a pricey turnover with only a minute remaining gave method to Nika Muhl’s 3-pointer for a 70-69 Iowa lead.
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Then, in dramatic style, Aaliyah Edwards was known as for an unlawful display screen on Gabbit Marshall.
Clark made her first free throw try, and Sydney Affolter secured the offensive rebound on the second to finish all of it.
The controversial name made waves on social media, with many disagreeing with officers.
“My point of view, it was pretty clean,” Edwards mentioned of the offensive foul after the sport.
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An emotional Paige Bueckers, who dropped 17 factors, dismissed the importance the play had on the end result of the sport.
Paige Bueckers, #5, Aaliyah Edwards, #3, and Nika Muhl, #10, of the UConn Huskies, from left, react as they converse with the media after dropping to the Iowa Hawkeyes within the NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Match Last 4 semifinal recreation at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 5, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio. Iowa defeated Connecticut 71-69. (Steph Chambers/Getty Pictures)
“Everybody can make a big deal of that one single play, but not one single play wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game. I feel like there was a lot of mistakes that I made that could have prevented that play from even being that big or causing the game [to be lost].”
“Yeah, you can look at one play and say, ‘That killed us’ or ‘That hurt us,’ but we should’ve done a better job – I should’ve done a better job of making sure we didn’t leave the game up to chance like that and leave the game up to one bad call going out way and that deciding it. Yeah, maybe that was a tough call for us, but I feel like I could’ve done a better job of preventing that from even happening.”
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She added, “We can talk about officiating, but players play. Players decide the game.”
Paige Bueckers, #5 of the UConn Huskies, appears to be like on within the first half throughout the NCAA Ladies’s Basketball Match Last 4 semifinal recreation in opposition to the Iowa Hawkeyes at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on April 5, 2024, in Cleveland, Ohio (Gregory Shamus/Getty Pictures)
UConn coach Geno Auriemma, whose response on court docket was laborious to overlook, appeared displeased with the decision after the sport.
“There’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession. I just know there were three or four of them called on us, and I don’t think there were any called on them.”
Iowa strikes on to the title, recreation the place they’ll tackle South Carolina.
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