Before the fans had even entered Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Caitlin Clark was on the court. There were 80 minutes until tipoff against South Carolina. She took a deep breath and then motioned to one of the managers on the court for the ball.

She was the only Iowa player on the court, but she went through her routine of taking shots from under the hoop, then the block, the free-throw line and the 3-point line.

Clark was in the locker room by the time the fans started to trickle in. When she emerged with the rest of her teammates, the Iowa contingent was loud despite being speckled throughout the arena.

She was at this stage last year just against a different team — LSU, after getting past this same South Carolina team in the Final Four. The Tigers ended up winning the championship title, but Clark wasn't too upset about the result, as she knew she'd have another go of it.

Her emotions were different this time around. It's her last year in the yellow and gold. No matter the result, it was her final game as a collegiate player.

"It's hard when your season ends, no matter what stage it is," Clark said. "Then it's hard when you make it to the national title game and you're so close to accomplishing something so great. ... I don't want this to end."

But end, it did.

Despite an amazing start for the Hawkeyes, South Carolina came out victorious, 87-75. Clark and Iowa, once again, were the runners-up.

"Finishing national runner-up two years in a row is an amazing feat," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "Nobody thought we were going to be here at the beginning of the year, so that makes it pretty special. It's tough. But I know how hard it is to get here, too. For us to be national runners-up two years in a row ... that's pretty good, too."

Clark hugged each and every member on the bench after checking out with 20.2 to go. While South Carolina celebrated at center court, Clark held her head high as confetti rained down. She thanked the fans one last time and received a litany of applause. She never hung her head as she walked through the tunnel.

"It's certainly been a special year," Clark said. "To be honest, after last year I was kind of, like, 'How do we top doing what we did last year?' Somehow, some way, every single person in our locker room believed. To be honest, this year was probably more special than last year. The teams we had to go through to get to this point, to be back in this position and come out here and battle — I mean, South Carolina is so good. There's only so much you can do."

The fans went wild when Clark scored her first points of the game — a 3-pointer right in front of the South Carolina bench. It got even louder when she made one of her famous logo shots one minute and seven seconds later. Her 18-point first quarter performance ended on a 5-0 run, and Clark even cracked a smile as she walked over to the bench.

She was quieted by the Gamecocks defense — specifically Raven Johnson — in the second quarter, finishing just 1 for 6 from the field. Led by Kamilla Cardoso and Tessa Johnson's combined 14 points, South Carolina outscored Iowa 29-19. Hannah Stuelke's nine points kept the Hawkeyes in the mix and they only trailed by three points at halftime.

"Don't let [Clark] score," Raven Johnson said of her mindset. "I was ready for the moment. And I take defense very hard, I take it to heart. I studied her moves, and I was ready. I had confidence this year. I was telling myself last year's not going to happen again."

The Gamecocks held the lead for the entirety of the third quarter. The closest Iowa got was when Clark dusted off Johnson for a layup with 4:44 to go. But Ashlyn Watkins responded by kicking off an 11-2 run that gave South Carolina an 11-point lead. Sydney Affolter scored to cut it to 68-59 at the end of the quarter.

Iowa had no answer for South Carolina as the lead extended to as many as 14 points. Clark and Gabbie Marshall hit back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a six-point game with 6:43 remaining. Affolter cut it to five points after capitalizing on an and-one opportunity, but that's the closest the Hawkeyes would get as their national championship dreams slipped away while the clock ticked down to zero.

"I'm just proud of our resiliency," Clark said. "We go into the fourth quarter, I think we cut it to five. And we just weren't able to come up with a few stops and a few baskets. That speaks to our team. That's the story it's been all year long. My whole entire career, we never give up. We just keep fighting."

Clark didn't necessarily need a national championship to cement her name as a legend in the sport. She's already accomplished so much in her four years with the team. She's been named Player of the Year twice. She's a three time unanimous first-team All-American. She broke the all-time scoring record for both men's and women's college basketball.

The attention she's drawn from fans and media has raised the sport to a level never seen before. Friday's semifinal against UConn pulled in 14.2 million viewers on ESPN, peaking at 17 million. It was ESPN's highest audience for any basketball game on record and the network's second-best non-football telecast ever. The championship game is expected to surpass that number.

"I've played basketball at this university for four years," Clark said. "For it to come down to two games and that be whether or not I'm proud of myself and proud of the way I've carried myself and proud of the way I've impacted people in their lives, I don't think that's a fair assessment."

And the impact showed even on Sunday, as Clark finished with 30 points in front of a sellout crowd of 18,300. Even the fans who weren't supporting a specific team were clearly louder and in favor of Clark and the Hawkeyes.

Even South Carolina coach Dawn Staley took the time to shout out Clark, both on the broadcast immediately after the game and in the press conference.

"[I] just don't want to not utilize this opportunity to thank Caitlin for what she's done for women's basketball," Staley said. "Her shoulders were heavy and getting a lot of eyeballs on our game. And sometimes as a young person, it can be a bit much, but I thought she handled it with class. I hope that every step of the ladder of success that she goes, she's able to elevate whatever room she's in."

But in the end, it was the dominance of an undefeated South Carolina team that won out, giving Staley her third national championship. Staley, Cardoso, Raven Johnson and Te-Hina Paopao were all smiles when they walked into the press conference.

The Gamecocks had the advantage of being a deeper team. They played nine different players who all had 18 or more minutes. Staley was able to preserve some of her key players even in the semifinals. And the bench absolutely dominated with 37 points to Iowa's zero.

Of those nine players, four scored in double-figures, led by Tessa Johnson's 19 points. Cardoso earned the title of Most Outstanding Player with her double-double of 15 points and 17 rebounds. She led the team to a 51-29 rebounding margin — which ties for the fourth-largest in an NCAA women's championship game. Paopao and Chloe Kitts added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

It was mentioned by multiple South Carolina players that this was a revenge tour. The Gamecocks lost to Iowa in the Final Four last year, handing them their first loss of the season. This year, they were able to go undefeated, finishing the season 38-0 and capping off the performance with a national championship.

"It just means so much," Paopao said. "We've come a long way. It's been a long journey. We've trusted each other so much over the season. We have so much confidence with each other, so much love. We're going to sound like a broken record, but it's love throughout this whole program, throughout this whole team. ... It's been a great journey, and to cap it off with a perfect season, it's just a blessing."

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