No. 1 overall seed South Carolina defeated Iowa 87-75 to win the NCAA women’s basketball national championship in Cleveland on Sunday, completing a perfect 38-0 season.
It was star Iowa guard Caitlin Clark’s last game in her college career, following a record-setting season with the Hawkeyes.
Entering the championship, Iowa had the top three most-viewed women’s college basketball games of all time: Friday’s Final Four win against UConn (14.2 million), their Elite Eight win against LSU (12.3 million) and last year’s national championship game against LSU (9.9 million).
Iowa narrowly edged out the University of Connecticut 71-69 to reach the title game for the second straight year.
The South Carolina Gamecocks advanced to the final after defeating North Carolina State University 78-59.
South Carolina was unbeaten coming into the final, and over their prior 80 games, the team’s only loss was to the Hawkeyes in last year’s Final Four. The Gamecocks are now 109-3 in the last three seasons.
