Who won women’s March Madness?

In just her second year, Kim Mulkey has delivered a National Title to the Bayou. Here’s is who won women’s March Madness and what’s next for LSU.

For the first time in school history, an LSU’s basketball team can call themselves National Champions. On Sunday, LSU’s women’s basketball team upended No. 2 seed Iowa and their star Caitlin Clark to claim the collegiate women’s game’s top prize.

In April of 2021, the Tigers hired Kim Mulkey to be their next head coach. The former Louisiana Tech standout Mulkey had spent 21 seasons as the head coach of the Baylor Bears, where she won three national championships. In her introductory press conference that April, she vowed to do it again – this time in the state where her basketball career first began.

“Turn around and look at those banners,” Mulkey instructed the crowd. “Final Four, Final Four, Final Four. Nowhere does it say, ‘National Champion.’ That is what I came here to do.”

To her credit, Mulkey called her shot, even if the payoff to that promise came much sooner than she, or anyone else, could’ve expected. This past offseason, she cautioned fans to “not get your hopes up” and that building a title contender takes time. Not many thought the timeline she referred to was only four months long, not even Mulkey herself.

“Are we ahead of schedule?” Mulkey said in a press conference Saturday. “I think it’s obvious we’re ahead of schedule. We’re sitting here playing for the national championship.”

Who won women’s March Madness? The LSU Tigers prevailed

The Fighting Tigers had the unenviable task Sunday of dealing with a red-hot Iowa Hawkeyes team, fresh off an upset of reigning National Champion South Carolina. The Gamecocks hadn’t lost a game since the SEC Championship game – last season.

To add to it, 2023 National Player of the Year Caitlin Clark was coming off a 40-point triple-double in the Elite Eight and another 40-point outing against Carolina.

Offensive fireworks and officiating (more on that later) were the talk of Dallas. LSU stormed out to a 17-point lead thanks to an unlikely star: West Virginia transfer Jasmine Carson. Carson scored 21 points off the bench in the first half, going 5-for-5 from the outside.

Iowa tried its hardest to pull back in the second half, getting as close as nine points, but foul-trouble handcuffed the Hawkeyes and their star guard Clark. The Iowa native carried three personal fouls for much of the game, picking up her fourth late in the third quarter. The Hawkeyes’ chances were further hampered when Monika Czinano fouled out in the fourth quarter.
Even still, Clark managed to score 30 points, hitting a championship game record eight 3-pointers.

LSU set records of their own Sunday evening, scoring 102 points, the most-ever in a women’s championship game. The Tigers were bolstered by yet another double-double from Maryland transfer Angel Reese, her 34th this season. The Tigers also received 20 points from LaDazhia Williams and 21 points from Alex Morris.

LSU’s bench outscored Iowa’s, 30-8, in the victory.

The win is not only the first National Title for LSU, it also gives Mulkey her fourth. the 60-year old joins an elite class of the women’s college game as coaches with four or more – UConn’s Geno Auriemma and the late Pat Summit are the only others.

For as entertaining as Sunday’s championship was, the game was marred by questionable officiating that drew both the ire of the coaches and social media. Clark’s aforementioned technical was a result of her rolling the ball in the third quarter, which forced her to sit for the remainder of the quarter.

Clark wasn’t the only star on the receiving end of a bad call. Most Outstanding Player Angel Reese was tagged with two early fouls, the second of which was the most eyebrow raising.

“I didn’t even feel like I could talk to them,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said after the game. “They wouldn’t even listen you know? That’s what’s frustrating is that there wasn’t even a conversation that could be had.”

Angel Reese, Flau’jae Johnson led LSU on path to a national title

The Tigers returned to the Final Four for the first time since 2008. It marked quite the impressive turnaround for LSU Kim Mulkey.

The Louisiana turned over LSU’s entire roster in the offseason, bringing in nine newcomers. That group included players like Ohio State transfer Kateri Poole, freshman Flau’jae Johnson and perhaps most importantly, Reese. Reese has turned into one of the best players in the country, averaging 23.3 points and 15.6 rebounds.

The season before Mulkey took over in Baton Rouge, LSU posted a 9-13 overall record. This year, the Tigers close the book with 34 wins. LSU opened its season with 23-consecutuve wins, the longest such streak in program history.

The Tigers earned a No. 3 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament, opening with a first-round rolling of Hawaii. The Tigers followed that up with a 24-point win over Michigan. After narrowly grinding out a win over Utah, the Tigers beat No. 9 seed Miami (FL) to advance to the Final Four.

The Tigers’ title hopes were on shaky ground at stages during the Final Four. LSU drew No. 1 seed Virginia Tech in their national semifinal contest. Despite leading by as many as nine points in the first half, VT used a 20-2 run to take a 43-34 lead in the third quarter. The Hokies switched to a zone defense, which gave the Tigers fits; LSU was held to 0 points to close out the first half after VT switched to a zone.

LSU wouldn’t go away quietly, outscoring the Hokies 28-11 in the fourth quarter to take the lead for good and book their ticket to Championship Sunday.

Mulkey and her Tigers will surely celebrate their win for the foreseeable future but make no mistake: their sights are already set toward defending this crown and to new goals, like winning SEC Championships. While repeating is hard, LSU has to like its chances; the Tigers already signed the No. 1 recruiting class.

“We lose four outstanding seniors, but the core of your group is young and underclass, and you hope they stay,” Mulkey said after the game. “Lord knows, every time you turn around, you’ve got to deal with people in the transfer portal, but you signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. And that was before we won a national championship.”

“I’m telling you all in advance, [repeating] hard to do.”

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