‘How do you defend that, right? It is nearly impossible’

ALBANY, N.Y. — Caitlin Clark sat in the confetti not far from where she regularly shoots and hits from deep. The crowd of teammates, family and friends had naturally cleared an open spot, like LSU cleared room for her to tie her career-record of nine 3-pointers. Pulling her new Final Four hat low, she typed on her phone. Scrolled a little. Wiped her face at the end of a long work day.

The college senior wanted a little silence for herself to take a couple of deep breaths. The piece of the net she cut from the rims of MVP Arena popped high from her ponytail as cameras snapped photos.

“These moments go fast. I know how fast they go,” Clark said in the locker room. “My career is almost over and I’ll never win an Elite Eight game again. Soak it in and enjoy it.”

Minutes later, she stepped back into the fray for photos and confetti throwing. Young children who stayed after most of the 13,888 strong left bellowed her name in unison to grab even a smile from the superstar who they watched score 41 points with relative ease against the team that kept her from a national championship.

It was Iowa that celebrated this time after a 94-87 victory over LSU clinched the loaded Albany 2 regional and a berth in the Final Four. The NCAA all-time leading scorer set multiple more records: career 3-pointers, a tie for 3s in a game, and the all-time all-school scoring record set by Pearl Moore.

The title game rematch was circled as soon as the brackets came out and became appointment viewing when each team clinched its spot in the Elite Eight on Saturday.

But Iowa players and head coach Lisa Bluder insisted afterward, much as they had in the days leading up to it, that they weren’t wrapped up in the idea of revenge. To them, this has nothing to do with LSU. It didn’t matter what team stood in the way. When the run is done, so are the careers of Clark, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin. Bluder told them to live in the moment and keep it alive.

“If you live in the past too much that it kind of ruins the present,” Clark said. “That’s what we talked about. Be where your feet are. The biggest thing we talked about was what does Iowa need to do to win this game?”

Iowa needed to start hot, sink 3s and play solid defense. It did all three. Clark gave everyone an idea of what was to come when she pulled up and hit from deep on the Hawkeyes’ first possession after Hannah Stuelke reeled in the first rebound of the game. She entered the game 11-of-34 from 3 in the NCAA tournament after a rocky Big Ten showing from deep.

“I probably haven’t been shooting it as good from three over the course of the last five or so games,” Clark said. “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.”

On the next possession, she drove in to establish the lane. Gabbie Marshall immediately tipped a pass on the perimeter at the other end, grabbed the ball and fed Stuelke for another two points.

The Hawkeyes led by as many as nine in the first quarter and entered halftime tied, 45-45. Clark came out of the locker room and hit her fourth 3 to send Iowa to a crushing 24-13 third quarter. Clark shot 4-of-7 from 3 in the period to build a 69-58 lead that LSU couldn’t cut back into until the waning minutes.

“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.”

Cameras caught LSU guard Hailey Van Lith shrugging a “what can you do” on one of Clark’s shots, an exasperation the Iowa superstar often creates in opponents and will keep doing for at least one more game at the collegiate level.

“She’s a great player.