By Charisma Madarang
Iowa Hawkeyes beat the Quantity Three LSU Tigers 94-87 in Albany, New York, throughout a hard-fought battle within the first spherical of the Elite Eight of the 2024 NCAA ladies’s basketball match. The Hawkeyes will advance to the Last 4 in Cleveland, the place they’ll play the winner of the USC Trojans and Connecticut Huskies sport.
Monday’s extremely anticipated showdown reunited star gamers Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark, whose rivalry has captivated the nation main as much as the massive sport. Whereas LSU star Reese was dominant within the first half, and completed with 17 factors and 20 rebounds, the Tigers struggled to maintain the momentum within the second half. Clark dropped 41 factors, 12 assists and 7 rebounds, whereas teammates Kate Martin and Sydney Affolter sank in double figures including 21 and 16, respectively.
The evening was a a rematch of final yr’s championship sport, which noticed the Tigers clinch a 102-85 win over the Hawkeyes to say their first championship in program historical past — on the time, it was the most-viewed NCAA ladies’s basketball remaining, with nearly 13 million people watching at peak viewership. Within the remaining seconds, when it was evident the Tigers could be taking residence the trophy, Reese appeared to taunt Clark by performing John Cena’s “You can’t see me” hand transfer.
The second ignited a yr of heated debates amongst sports commentators and followers alike over the racial narratives crafted round white gamers and Black gamers. Clark had been celebrated for the same move two video games prior when Iowa confronted off with Louisville. But critics have been fast to name Reese’s gesture “classless,” and in response, many on social media, together with skilled athletes, known as out the racist double commonplace.
In separate statements throughout a Sunday press conference, earlier than any participant on the Tigers and Hawkeyes stepped foot on the court docket Monday evening, Reese and Clark set the report straight — there was completely no beef between them.
“I don’t assume folks notice it’s not private,” Reese stated when requested about trash speaking. “As soon as we get out between these traces, if I see you strolling down the road, it’s like, ‘Hey, lady, what’s up? Let’s hang around.’ I feel folks simply take it like we hate one another. Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate one another. I would like all people to know that. It’s only a super-competitive sport. As soon as I get between these traces, there’s no pals. I’m going to speak trash to you. I’m going to do no matter it takes to get in your head the entire whole sport, however after the sport, we will kick it. I don’t assume folks actually notice that.” She stated her relationship with Clark is “super-competitive,” stating that the 2 had been enjoying one another since highschool.
“There’s positively that aggressive hearth,” Clark stated. “Each of us need to win greater than something, and that’s the way it needs to be while you’re a competitor and also you get right into a scenario like this, whether or not it was the nationwide championship, whether or not it’s the Elite Eight.
“I feel that’s the primary similarity is how aggressive we’re,” Clark continued. “We each grew up loving this sport, and we’re going to do something we will to assist our groups win.”
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