CLEVELAND — Behind Caitlin Clark's 21 points, the Iowa Hawkeyes rallied to beat Paige Bueckers and the UConn Huskies 71-69 in the women's Final Four on Friday night and return to the national championship game.
The win sets up a rematch of last year's semifinal game between the Hawkeyes (34-3) and the unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday. After falling short in the title game to LSU, Clark and the Hawkeyes are one win away from bringing home the school's first women's basketball title.
The Huskies held a 21-14 lead to being the second quarter after a layup from Aaliyah Edwards just 30 seconds into the period.
But the Hawkeyes clawed their way back as Sydney Affolter scored six points and Clark added four in the period.
The Huskies took a 32-26 lead into the break.
UConn's swarming defense managed to keep Clark at bay for the first 30 minutes of the game, but the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer finally got going in the fourth quarter.
With the game tied at 51 heading into the final quarter, Clark erupted by scoring the first seven points in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the period to give the Hawkeyes some breathing room.
The Huskies (33-6) cut the deficit to 70-69 on a 3-pointer from Nika Muhl after a steal with 39.3 seconds remaining.
UConn then forced Iowa's Hannah Stuelke into a turnover with 10 seconds left and had a chance to take the lead, but Edwards was called for an illegal screen, resulting in an offensive foul with 4.6 seconds left.
Stuelke scored 23 points to lead Iowa scorers.
Bueckers and Edwards had 17-a piece for the Huskies.
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