Emotional Caitlin Clark hopes Iowa inspired ‘joy’ with title run

DALLAS — After a landmark women’s NCAA tournament in which she led the Iowa Hawkeyes to their first national championship game and put her name in multiple places in the NCAA record book, Caitlin Clark leaned on the shoulder of teammate Monika Czinano and shed a few tears after Sunday’s 102-85 loss to the LSU Tigers.

Then Clark reflected about how special this season has been for Iowa, especially for a kid who grew up in the state. The West Des Moines native has been the center of attention of a very popular team.

“I want my legacy to be the impact that I can have on young kids and the people in the state of Iowa, and I hope I brought them a lot of joy this season,” a still emotional Clark said. “I hope this team brought them a lot of joy. I understand we came up one win short, but I think we have a lot to be proud of and a lot to celebrate.”

Clark’s 191 points, 60 assists and 32 3-pointers are all records for a single women’s NCAA tournament since the event began in 1982. Her point total actually was the most in either women’s or men’s NCAA…