South Carolina was not giving Caitlin Clark an inch during the first quarter of the women’s college basketball national championship on Sunday. The Gamecocks were on her like white on rice.
It was getting testy!
Bree Hall was tasked with guarding Clark for much of the early going. She was right up in her face and did not allow the all-time leading scorer in history to get the ball beyond the arc. The defense was so tight that the officials could have called an off-ball foul for holding.
They played on!
Clark needed to create space so she tried to power through Hall, who stood her ground as best she could. That resulted in a very vicious push off.
Iowa’s superstar guard threw her weight into the South Carolina defender. She shoved Hall away, which could have been whistled for an offensive foul.
They played on!
It was an efficient way to create space and Clark’s teammates got her the ball for an open three. Meanwhile, Hall completely flopped. The 6-foot junior guard took an Oscar-worthy pause before falling over backward to the floor.
Brilliant play from Caitlin Clark to free herself up for an open three pic.twitter.com/GONQnQ8H4A
— Liam (@Blutman27) April 7, 2024
While it was refreshing for the officials to let physical play be physical play, there was an argument to be made for fouls on both Clark and Hall… and neither were called. That is a good thing if it was consistent!
The issue is this:
Officials allowed Iowa and South Carolina to battle after UConn was called for an extremely questionable moving screen in the closing seconds of the Final Four that potentially changed the entire outcome. They made a ticky-tacky call in perhaps the most crucial moment of the entire season.
And then, less than 48 hours later, Bree Hall was allowed to hold and Caitlin Clark was allowed to push off. The lack of uniformity in what is and is not called is frustrating!