NCAA Women’s March Madness: How to Watch the National Championship

Dallas — Editor’s Note: The Associated Press contributed to this article.

The NCAA Women’s Final Four in Dallas was nothing short of a box office attraction that lived up to its hype. LSU staged a comeback against Virginia Tech, and Iowa, led by star guard Caitlin Clark, defeated the defending champion and previously undefeated South Carolina.

The national championship game, scheduled for Sunday afternoon, is expected to conclude on a weekend of basketball spectaculars.

For fans visiting Dallas for the Women’s Final Four, we’ve got your guide to all the events and how to navigate the AAC.

Now let’s take a look at the final matchup of the season.

The Division I National Title Trophy on Sunday, April 2 at 2:30pm CT. It will be broadcast live on ABC for the first time. The NCAA has an all-female crew for the first time ever.

(AP) – Caitlin Clark gets the national stage for another game this season. The same goes for Alexis Morris’ homecoming in Texas.

The standout guards made it a party of first-timers for Sunday’s NCAA women’s championship game.

Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes defeated undefeated defending champions South Carolina 77-73 in Friday night’s semifinals.

Morris led LSU’s rally in a in her second stint with flamboyant trainer Kim Mulkey 79-72 victory over Virginia Tech in the early game the final four.

clark, the Associated Press Player of the Year, scored 41 points for Iowa (31-6). The Hawkeyes lost their only last Final Four appearance 30 years ago, 73-72 in overtime to Ohio State.

“I think we need to be able to enjoy that for a moment, but also to rearrange our minds,” Clark said. “We are here to lift the trophy. We’re here to cut another championship net. We have to take care of our bodies. We have to watch our thoughts.”

Morris scored 27 points to lead the Tigers (33-2) past the semifinals for the first time in their sixth attempt. The first five were consecutive from 2004 to 2008.

Mulkey is only the third coach to lead multiple teams to the Final Four, having played four times with Baylor and winning three championships. She has a 7-1 record on the big stage.

It took Mulkey five years to get Baylor to the championship game. With the flagship school in her home state, she did it in two steps.

“You think of all the great male players that have played at LSU,” Mulkey said. “You think of all the great players who played. When they told me that nobody had ever played for a national championship, I was a bit surprised. That’s an achievement. This is a step in the right direction.”

Iowa was a No. 2 playing against the team that was No. 1 all season. South Carolina attempted to become the first repeat winner since UConn in 2016.

The Hawkeyes came into the Final Four with the most losses of the remaining teams, but as the leading player. And they guaranteed that for the first time since 2011 no No. 1 will win the title.

Now Clark will take on Morris while Iowa figures out how to deal with LSU star post player Angel Reese, who set an NCAA record with 24 points and 12 rebounds with her 33rd double-double in a single season .

The Hawkeyes have found a way to overcome South Carolina’s Aliyah Boston-led size advantage and will have to do it again with Reese.

“It’s just a business mentality at this point, and I think we’ve done really well at that in the past,” said McKenna Warnock, who had a crucial offensive rebound in the last minute against South Carolina. “The Big Ten tournament prepares you for that, and I think that’s how we look at it.”

Morris, who grew up in Beaumont near the southeastern Texas coast, played for Mulkey at Baylor as a freshman before embarking on an awkward career that included stints at Rutgers and Texas A&M.

The feisty 5ft 6 guard is on her second season of a reunion with Mulkey and knows her career is ending a few hundred miles from home.

Morris was excited about questions about matching against Virginia Tech’s 3-pointer wizard Georgia Amoore. The questions will come back with Clark on the other side.

“It still hasn’t hit me,” Morris said. “Maybe if we end up being the standing champions then maybe I can just let go and just be like ahhh, how relieved.”

The sophomore averages 23.2 points, 15.7 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game.

The senior averages 14.9 points, 4.1 assists and 1.9 steals per game.

The junior averages 27.3 points, 8.6 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game.

Striker/middle, Monika Czinano

The fifth year averages 17.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.