Once again, Carver-Hawkeye Arena played host to a national championship game watch party. Once again, the people who couldn’t make it to the game could take it in on the big screen. Once again, the Hawkeyes came up short of the holy grail.
This time they were defeated by the team they had upset in the Final Four a year ago, the South Carolina Gamecocks, who completed a perfect season and won the program’s third title in seven years with the 87-75 triumph.
The energy in Carver was lively throughout, even in those moments when the Hawkeyes felt the pressure as the Gamecocks began to seize control. The ebbs and flows were something to take in, and even in the final seconds when the reality of back-to-back national title losses started to set in, the crowd at Carver largely remained.
They were jubilant at the sight of Molly Davis and Sharon Goodman coming in for the final 20 seconds, knowing it was their last game in a Hawkeye uniform. For Davis, it was particularly meaningful because this was her first appearance on the floor since she severely injured her leg in the final regular season game against Ohio State.
As for the other senior players, they gave it their all and have left an indelible mark on the program.
Of course there is Caitlin Clark, whose body of work…
