The NCAA women’s basketball tournament’s tenure in Albany came to a close Monday night with an electrifying performance by the sport’s biggest star.
Caitlin Clark added to her all-time scoring record with another 41 points, including nine 3-pointers, and now has 3,900 points.
She’ll get the chance to keep adding to that total now that Iowa is heading back to the Final Four. The top-seeded Hawkeyes beat LSU at MVP Arena 94-87 in one of the biggest sporting events in Albany history. The rematch of last year’s championship game capped off two regionals that drew some 55,000 fans over four days.
Clark, who is headed for the WNBA draft after the season, says Iowa is thrilled to have a chance to keep playing at the Final Four.
“I think we came out here and our second and third quarters we played really good basketball,” she said. “LSU is a really good team. They’re hard to guard. They’re such good one-on-one players. They break you down, they make tough shots, they killed us on the glass, but we were just resilient. We never hung our heads when things didn’t go our way and that can get you a long way. I’m just proud of this group to go back to the Final Four. You enjoy this and then you get to Cleveland and you start prepping for your next game. We want to win two more and I think we have the power to do that.”
Next up for Iowa is third-seeded UConn, which beat No. 1 USC in Portland.
The Huskies are led by Paige Bueckers, who returned this year after tearing her ACL and missing the entire season the year before.
“Today was one of the most rewarding feelings I’ve ever felt in my life, just seeing where I was a year ago today, just starting to do individual workouts, starting to feel the basketball again, get the ball in my hands again, and now I’m here with my teammates and my coaching staff and we’re going to the Final Four,” she said. “It’s been a very rewarding journey and I’m super grateful for it all.”
Back in Albany, former UConn women’s basketball great Rebecca Lobo had to apologize after taking a shot at the city during ESPN’s broadcast of the LSU-Iowa game.
"Good luck finding something to do in Albany."
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) April 2, 2024
Albany catches a stray from @RebeccaLobo... pic.twitter.com/Px4GY2UsNl
“By the way, good luck finding something to do in Albany,” she said.
The comment was quickly criticized by residents and officials in the Capital Region.
There’s plenty to do if you take the time to look — some of the nation’s oldest museums, a stately Capitol, award-winning restaurants, and a basketball game or two downtown. @RebeccaLobo, let’s take a ride before you leave town. Happy to show you all there is to see and do. https://t.co/ejrVlWgv9f
— Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan (@MayorSheehan) April 2, 2024
On Twitter, Lobo responded, saying she has spent many weekends coaching basketball in the Albany area and “No shade intended towards the capital city and the outstanding job they did hosting the regional.”
I’ve spent many fun-filled weekends in the Albany area over the years coaching my kids’ AAU teams.
— Rebecca Lobo (@RebeccaLobo) April 2, 2024
No shade intended towards the capital city and the outstanding job they did hosting the regional.
“The final numbers were through-the-roof successful,” MVP Arena general manager Bob Belber said.
Belber despite Lobo’s crack, the tournament’s return to Albany exceeded expectations.
“I think our market has shown the NCAA that we can fill the building and be ahead of attendance numbers in any other site that they’ve hosted it so far,” he said. “Portland, as a comparison, they have about 18,000 sellable seats out there in that building, it’s a NBA building and it’s a pro building, but they only filled it halfway full for this event. I hear that their attendance was about 9,000 per session.”
Belber says Albany is already planning to submit bids for the NCAA to come back.
