Albany, NY – The bright lights of the biggest stage only seemed to elevate Caitlin Clark’s game to stratospheric levels. In an absolutely scintillating shooting display, the Iowa senior guard exploded for 41 points, burying nine three-pointers to tie her career-high as the Hawkeyes vanquished LSU 94-87 in a highly anticipated Elite Eight showdown.
Clark was unconscious from deep, her silky smooth release finding nothing but nylon time and again. Her barrage of triples had jaws dropping and social media buzzing as she singlehandedly outgunned the powerful LSU squad. When the final buzzer mercifully sounded for the beleaguered Tigers, confetti rained down on the MVP Arena court as pandemonium erupted.
In the middle of the celebratory chaos was Clark herself, finally allowing herself a few moments to pause and soak in the magnitude of her performance and Iowa’s monumental achievement. She found an open spot amidst the confetti flurry, slumping down and scrolling through her phone as the tension and adrenaline began to subside.
“These moments go fast. I know how fast they go,” Clark said, the piece of net she snipped swaying from her ponytail. “My career is almost over and I’ll never win an Elite Eight game again. Soak it in and enjoy it.”
Make no mistake, this was Caitlin Clark’s world and we were all just living in it on this night. From the opening tip, she made her intentions abundantly clear, pulling up and splashing home a triple on Iowa’s very first possession to immediately seize momentum.
“I probably haven’t been shooting it as good from three over the course of the last five or so games,” Clark admitted. “But even if you told me that, I would still have 110 percent belief in myself and what I’ve been able to do this year.”
Her scorching start foreshadowed the downtown decimation that was to come as Clark transformed the arena into her own personal shooting gallery. She danced around screens, stepped back into logos threes, dribbled behind her back and pulled up from distances that defied logic. It was a virtuoso performance that left LSU players, coaches and fans alike simply shaking their heads in disbelief.
“There’s not a lot of strategy. You’ve got to guard her. Nobody else seems to be able to guard her,” LSU head coach Kim Mulkey said. “We didn’t even guard her last year when we beat them. She’s just a generational player, and she just makes everybody around her better. That’s what the great ones do.”
Midway through the third quarter, after draining her seventh trifecta of the night to extend Iowa’s lead to double digits, Clark pounded her chest and roared at the crowd, finally allowing her intense competitive fire to spill over. It was a startling, raw display of emotion that captured the pure adrenaline coursing through her veins.
“I think I just got hyped for a second, honestly,” Clark said with a sheepish grin after the game. “I was trying to be pretty calm and cool. When you’re playing a team like LSU, they’re never out of the game. No matter what the time and score is.”
Despite her thermonuclear shooting, Clark was incredibly unselfish, dishing out a game-high 12 assists as her court vision and passing ability mesmerized. She carved up LSU’s defense with pinpoint skip passes, wrapped bullets into tight windows, and displayed an uncanny sense for finding her teammates in perfect position to score.
“Caitlin Clark is not going to beat you by herself,” Mulkey acknowledged. “It’s what she does to make those other teammates better that helps her score points and them score points to beat you.”
While Clark engineered the fireworks, it was a balanced, determined team effort from Iowa. Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin provided invaluable support, combining for 25 points while also limiting LSU’s offensive flows with tenacious perimeter defense. Hannah Stuelke battled foul trouble but contributed 8 huge points against the dominant LSU frontcourt.
“She put it aside. She put everything aside,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said of Clark’s unflappable poise and leadership. “Honestly, she put it aside. She put every distraction, every bit of outside noise, aside and just focused on doing what she does best.”
For LSU, it was a brutal, heartbreaking defeat tinged with a hint of inevitability. As sensational as their performances were, Flau’jae Johnson’s 23 points, Mikaylah Williams’ 18, and the double-doubles from Angel Reese and Aneesah Morrow simply couldn’t offset Clark’s thermonuclear detonation.
“Her distance shots were amazing tonight,” Bluder marveled. “Her logo 3s were incredible. How do you defend that, right? It is nearly impossible.”
As the celebration raged around her in the moments after the final horn, Clark seemed to exist in her own tranquil oasis, finally allowing the sudden silence to wash over her. She emerged eventually, beaming smile stretching from ear-to-ear as she autographed gear and posed for pictures with adoring young fans chanting her name.
The senior superstar knows this delirious high is fleeting, that the toughest challenges still await at the Final Four in Dallas. But for tonight, she is basking in the moment, letting the pure, unbridled joy marinate.
“You’re never satisfied with being in the Final Four,” Clark said, the shadow of her larger ambitions evident. “We were really close to achieving our goal last year. Being able to get back there is amazing, and you enjoy this and soak this in. But once you get there, you kind of turn the page.”
After rewriting the record books with her latest scoring barrage, cementing her status as an all-time great, Caitlin Clark turns her sights to the final, elusive chapter of her storybook career. Her dazzling, awe-inspiring performance against LSU now just a glimpse of the greatness she is still capable of achieving.
For a generational talent like Clark, the brightest lights only seem to reveal her true, full brilliance to the world.
