LSU ends season winning 102-85 over Iowa in NCAA finals

Jasmine Carter leads scoring with 22 points

One of the first things Kim Mulkey did upon becoming women’s basketball coach at LSU was to study the available talent in the transfer portal.

She obviously made some wise personnel decisions.

In just her second season in Baton Rouge, La., Coach Mulkey used nine transfers plus one freshman to help the Tigers to their first NCAA crown.

LSU finished off a 34-2 season April 2 with a 102-85 win over Iowa in the finals before 19,842 fans at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and a national ABC audience.

It was the highest score ever in an NCAA championship game.

Coach Mulkey had previously won three NCAA titles at Baylor in 2005, 2012 and 2019.

Jasmine Carter, a transfer from West Virginia, led the scoring against Iowa with 22 points. Arriving from Maryland, Angel Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds in the finals and was the team leader throughout the playoffs.

LSU advanced to the finals by defeating Virginia Tech, 79-72, two days earlier in Dallas.

Iowa was led by Caitlin Clark, who had 30 points in the final and a record 191 points for the six postseason games. That broke the mark of 175 set by Sheryl Swoopes of Texas Tech in 1993. Clark, a junior, had 41 points in the region final against Louisville and another 41 in helping the Hawkeyes eliminate 2022 champ South Carolina in the semifinals.