Maeve Bidonde, Staff Writer
March Madness is coming to an end soon with the NCAA Women’s bracket and the final four teams. The final four teams competing for the chance to play in the championship game are UConn, NC State, South Carolina, and Iowa. In the elite eight round, Iowa beat out LSU with a final score of 87 to 94 points and clinched a spot in the final four.
As for NC State, they secured a win against Texas with a 10-point lead of 76 to 66 points, giving them their spot in the final four. South Carolina delivered a twelve-point lead against Oregon State, securing their spot against NC State in the final four with a score of 58 to 70 points. Finally, UConn eliminated USC with a score of 80 to 73, making them the final team to move forward to the final four rounds.
Predictions have been made about who will secure spots in the championship game on Sunday, April 7th. Starting with NC State and South Carolina The Athletics have South Carolina favored to win due to their guards, but their 6-foot-7 center, Kamilla Cardoso, who is known for being one of the most dominant players on the court, A loss for NC State would be devastating, considering this is the first time they’ve made it to the final four since 1998. NC State will also have South Carolina’s bench as a major challenge that could knock them out of the championship game entirely. For this game, South Carolina is favored to win. The UConn versus Iowa game is another interesting matchup.
Caitlin Clark and her team faced off against UConn in the past, falling short in the final minutes. UConn and Iowa have been among the top five defenses during the regular season. Now the problem with the UConn defense is that they focus on protecting the paint, causing them to give up quite a few
three pointers during games. Caitlin Clark and her Huskies opponent, Paige Beuckers, have faced off before when Iowa lost. This could mean that Clark might be more dominant than usual, assuming she wants to beat UConn, avenging the previous Sweet 16 loss in 2020 to the Beuckers.
UConn’s defense looks perfect on paper, but defending against Clark has proven to be quite the challenge during the season. Iowa is predicted to win the game, but don’t count UConn out just yet in this rematch. The winners of the final four rounds move on to face off in the championship game, and the predicted results would mean a championship game between South Carolina and Iowa. Now the thing that everyone wants to know with UConn versus Iowa is if Caitlin Clark will avenge her previous loss against them or will Paige Beuckers beat her again, both resulting in their respective teams gaining a spot in the championship game on April 7th.
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