Alejandro Avila
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The first half of Sunday’s NCAA women’s national championship game between LSU and Iowa produced terrible officiating calls against the Tigers.
In the name of parity, the refs are now shafting the Iowa Hawkeyes (2) with questionable calls in the second.
LSU won the title 102-85 on Sunday.
Did Clark Deserve The Tech?
The most egregious of the calls dropped against Iowa in the third quarter.
Referees issued a technical against Hawkeyes superstar Caitlin Clark. The offense: throwing a ball off the court during a timeout. The pettiest call against Iowa came on the biggest stage, making it even more of a ridiculous decision by the ref.
WATCH:
Clark received her fourth foul of the game, putting Lisa Bluder’s Iowa on edge as time dwindled for a comeback.
Iowa led a strong surge out of the half. Facing a 17-point deficit at the break, Iowa played with more bite in the third, outscoring Kim Mulkey’s LSU, 22-16. Halfway through the third, Iowa led a nine-point rally.
Despite Iowa’s first-half troubles, Clark had a phenomenal first half: drilling four of her first five three-point attempts and scoring 16 points to keep the Hawkeyes in the game.
The only player to outshine Clark in the first was LSU’s Jasmine Carson. The senior guard scored 21 points.
LSU forward Angel Reese had a strong troll job on Clark as the game started to wrap. Reese went to Clark and started gloating, pointing to her finger for an early celebration of LSU’s championship.
Did Caitlin Clark deserve the tech? Let us know in the comments.
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I tend to dismiss ubiquitous complaints about “the refs” as “the universal mating call of losing fans” … BUT this level of overall poor officiating in a NC game is incredible. Should we assume these were the three highest rated referees in WBB ? I’d hate to see the refs that “weren’t good enough” to call a NC game.
At least Dawn Staley was denied her grand stage.
I couldn’t imagine if SoCar had beaten Iowa. Today’s game would have been ALL about the coaches, every second of it. Mulkey’s behavior took away from the game and it’s outcome.