Caitlin Clark: The emerging superstar leads Iowa Hawkeyes into championship game against South Carolina Gamecocks

Emerging superstar Caitlin Clark will play in the NCAA Women’s final, live on Sky Sports Action at 8pm on Sunday.

Clark will lead the Iowa Hawkeyes into the championship game against the South Carolina Gamecocks in what will be her last game of college basketball.

It's a title Iowa narrowly missed a year ago.

"Going to the national championship game, everybody's stepping up, it's not just me," Clark said. "It's not just one player.

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"That's not what this is. We wouldn't be at this point right now if it was just one player. And everybody comes up and makes really big plays when we need them."

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They had to as the Hawkeyes needed to mount comeback to eventually edge out UConn 71-69 on Friday in the Final Four.

"We got some good looks. They just didn't go in. And sometimes that's just what happens," Clark said.

"We missed some easy bunnies around the rim. But I think the best thing about our group is we went into the locker room at half-time and it wasn't like, 'oh, come on, you've got to make shots'. It was, 'no, stop turning the ball over and you're going to be perfectly fine'."

Clark was not at her best in that match.

She made 3 of 11 three-pointers and had four turnovers. She even missed a free throw with 3.1 seconds left that would have given Iowa a three-point lead. Team-mate Sydney Affolter got the rebound, leading to a jump ball, and Iowa retained possession.

Clark threw the ensuing inbounds pass off the back of UConn star Paige Bueckers to drain the clock to all but 0.8 seconds. One last heave inbounds and Clark ensured she would get to play her final college basketball game on the biggest stage with a title at stake.

"South Carolina has been the top of the top. They're in a different league. We're going to do everything we can to try to be right there with them," Clark said.

The Clark phenomenon

Clark has already declared for the WNBA draft and is expected to be the top overall pick by the Indiana Fever.

She has scored over 3,900 points in her career, more than any other college athlete, male or female, in the history of the NCAA.

A record 12.3m people watched the Hawkeyes earn a measure of revenge over Angel Reese and defending national champion in LSU in the Elite Eight on Monday night, a year removed from the Tigers' win over Iowa in the national title game that served as the launchpad for Clark's stardom.

Even when the action stopped, Clark's work did not. She's been a fixture during commercial breaks in the tournament, hawking everything from insurance to sports drinks thanks to new name, image and likeness rules that have allowed her to cash in on her fame in a way her predecessors never could.

The Hawkeyes took the floor on Friday night with a sea of fans clad in black and yellow cheering them on, many of them wearing a rainbow selection of shirts or jerseys with Clark's No 22, a number she chose not out of inspiration but because she was born on January 22 and couldn't come up with anything else.

The Clark effect was everywhere inside Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. ESPN pulled out all the stops, including offering an alternate telecast and stuffing the building with 43 cameras.

Tickets just to get in the door started at $300 on the secondary market and soared well into four figures.

Caitlin Clark will play in the NCAA Women's final live on Sky Sports Action at 8pm on Sunday

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