CLEVELAND — The ovations for Caitlin Clark began as soon as she jogged onto the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse court for warm-ups. They continued into pregame introductions, when the sound of Clark’s name, not surprisingly, received the loudest roar of any player.
Facing UConn in the national semifinal, Clark scored on Iowa’s first possession. Perhaps a masterclass, similar to the one Clark logged against LSU with nine 3-pointers, would follow? Instead, Clark went the next 14 minutes without making another basket.
Prolific Clark performances have become commonplace throughout her final collegiate season and her last NCAA Tournament run. After defeating the Tigers in the Elite Eight, Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said she had run out of words to describe Clark’s greatness.
On Friday night, though, Clark wasn’t at her best. In the opening 20 minutes, she missed each of her six 3-point attempts. By halftime, Iowa looked like it was in trouble, trailing 32-26. She had made exactly as many field goals (three) as turnovers and went to the locker room with merely 6 points.
Instead of letting her off-night shooting derail her and effectively end her career with the Hawkeyes, she remained steady. So often, Clark’s shooting prowess stands out with scoring bursts into the 40s. Against…
