Kamilla Cardoso and South Carolina win NCAA National Championship over Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes
South Carolina women’s basketball team managed to stay a perfect 38-0, and capped off their season with an NCAA national championship win on Sunday (7 April) in Cleveland, Ohio, beating Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes 87-75.
The South Carolina Gamecocks showed off the defense that was ranked first in the nation in the regular season. They grabbed 51 rebounds compared to Iowa’s 29, with Kamilla Cardoso pulling 17 boards. South Carolina’s depth made a huge difference, as well, with bench players scoring 37 points while Iowa’s bench didn’t score at all.
Cardoso scored 15 points and made three blocks while patrolling the paint. While Raven Johnson didn’t score much, she was spending much of the game defending Clark, and still managed four steals and two blocks.
In her final game for the Iowa Hawkeyes, Clark scored 30 points, including five three-pointers, and had five assists and eight rebounds. As she walked off the court, Clark made heart hands to her parents and the Iowa fans, showing her gratitude.
This game was a rematch of the 2023 national semifinal, which Iowa won, 77-73. In both today’s game and last season’s, South Carolina came in undefeated. Last season, Iowa lost the national final to LSU, but was able to avenge that loss with a win in the Elite Eight in 2024.
South Carolina lost most of the starters from last year’s team to the WNBA, including Aliyah Boston, who went on to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year and play for the U.S. in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. But on Sunday, they were able to rely on freshmen like Tessa Johnson, who scored 19 points, and Milaysia Fulwiley, who was able to score nine points and dish four assists while doing defensive dirty work.
The win gives South Carolina coach Dawn Staley her second championship in three years, with a record of 109-3. She has three championships in total, and coached the U.S. to an Olympic gold medal in 2020, putting her in the same company as women’s college basketball legends Pat Summitt, Tara VanDerveer and Geno Auriemma.
Caitlin Clark’s final college game
Clark is the first player to lead the nation in scoring and make it to the national final. She was the only college player invited to the USA Basketball training camp that happened last week in Cleveland, though she could not attend because the Hawkeyes were still playing in the tournament. Getting invited to the camp makes it more likely that Team USA will nominate Clark to the Paris 2024 team.
But she wasn’t the only player on the court with a connection to the international game. Cardoso missed games for South Carolina earlier this season to play for Brazil at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament, though her team did fail to obtain a quota for Paris 2024.
Though Clark didn’t win the title, her mark on the college game will not be forgotten. She broke the all-time NCAA scoring record, and brought never before seen crowds to every game she played in around the country.
“I want to personally thank Caitlin Clark for lifting up our sport,” Staley said in her postgame interview. “She carried a heavy load for our sport. You are one of the GOATs of our game, and I appreciate you.”
Both Clark and Cardoso have declared for the WNBA Draft, and are expected to be picked in the top five. They won’t have much time off, as the draft is just a week away (15 April.)
Kamilla Cardoso named Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament
Cardoso averaged a double-double during March Madness, pulling 10.8 rebounds and scoring 16.6 per game through the tournament, making her a deserving winner of the MOP. For the all-tournament team, she was joined by Clark, Johnson, Paige Bueckers from UConn and Hannah Stuelke.
The final was another sold out event, as 18,300 crowded into the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio, to watch this game. While Clark was breaking records on the court, women’s basketball was bringing in record numbers of fans and viewers. Iowa’s win over UConn on Friday (5 April) averaged 14.2 million viewers, shattering the record set days before in Iowa’s win over LSU.