After an eventful season in women’s college basketball, the LSU Tigers managed to make history with the highest-scoring national title game of all time. Kim Mulkey coached the purple and gold team to a 17-point spread that ended the Iowa Hawkeyes’ battle for the 2023 NCAA Championship with an ending score at 102-85.
Considered the underdogs, LSU had a huge Goliath to conquer as they prepped to go against the powerful opponent in Iowa’s coach Lisa Bluder and Caitlin Clark, deemed the 2023 Naismith National Player of the Year and ignited by a record-setting 191 points scored in a NCAA Tournament.
The first half of the game was riddled with impressive three pointers by Clark and graduate transfer student and LSU guard Jasmine Carson, and a barrage of fouls plaguing both teams and ultimately benching LSU All-American forward Angel Reese late in the first quarter. LSU guard Alexis Morris also was called on a couple of fouls in the second quarter. Coming into the third, Iowa was 17 points behind while LSU averaged more than 50 percent of their shots from the field with the assistance of transfer students, guard Last-Tear Poa and forward LaDazhia Williams.
Mulkey was able to bring the LSU Tigers to a victorious end this season after only two years with the team — her official recruitment to LSU was announced April 2021. The accomplished coach is the only one in college basketball history to win national championships as head coach, assistant coach, and player.
The national championship is the fourth for Mulkey, who also led the Baylor Lady Bears to three national titles, the first for LSU’s women’s basketball team and 50th national title in LSU Athletics 130-year history.
Congrats, Tigers!
