Hawkeyes or Tigers will win their first title Sunday afternoon

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark talks with her teammates during Friday’s win over South Carolina at American Airlines Center in Dallas. (Savannah Blake/The Gazette)

A new champion will be crowned Sunday as the No. 2-seed Iowa Hawkeyes (31-6) face the No. 3-seed LSU Tigers (33-2) in the NCAA women’s basketball championship game at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

How to watch Iowa vs. LSU NCAA championship game

Time: 2:30 p.m. (CT) Sunday, April 2, 2023

TV: ABC

Live stream: ESPN3 and ESPN+

TV announcers: Ryan Ruocco, Rebecca Lobo, Andraya Carter, Holly Rowe

More viewing options: The Bird & Taurasi Show on ESPN2 and ESPN+, “Beyond the Rim” aerial view on ESPN+, “On the Rail” full-length floor view on ESPN+

Radio: Hawkeye Radio Network and Sirius XM Channel 84

NCAA tournament picture for Iowa and LSU

What’s at stake: One of these programs will win its first national championship. LSU Coach Kim Mulkey won three as the head coach at Baylor.

How they got here: Iowa ended top-ranked, defending champion South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak in the national semifinals, 77-73. LSU also took down a No. 1- seed, beating Virginia Tech 79-72. The rest of Iowa’s NCAA tournament road: No. 15-seed Southeastern Louisiana (95-43), No. 10-seed Georgia (74-66), No. 6-seed Colorado (87-77) and No. 5-seed Louisville (97-83). LSU beat No. 14-seed Hawaii (73-50), No. 6-seed Michigan (66-42), No. 2-seed Utah (66-63) and No. 9-seed Miami (54-42).

Series: Iowa leads, 2-1. This is their first meeting since Iowa’s 73-65 overtime win in the 1990 Amana Hawkeye Classic final.

Line: Iowa -3.5

Five facts about Iowa vs. LSU

1. Via ESPN: This is the first NCAA women’s basketball final without a No. 1 seed since 2011, when Texas A&M beat Notre Dame 76-70 in a meeting of No. 2 seeds. The next 10 national champions were top seeds.

2. LSU’s Angel Reese ranks fifth in the country in scoring (23.3 points per game) and second in rebounding (15.6). She had 25 points and 13 rebounds in Maryland’s 81-69 win over the Hawkeyes last February.

3. National player of the year Caitlin Clark scored a Final Four-record 41 points in Iowa’s win Friday and is the first player to score 40-plus points in consecutive NCAA tournament games.

4. ESPN said Iowa’s win over South Carolina averaged 5.5 million viewers, the network’s highest average for a women’s basketball national semifinal game. The LSU-Virginia Tech game drew 3.4 million; the average for the night (4.5 million) was also a record for that round on ESPN.

5. Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock will finish their Iowa careers Sunday. Czinano ranks third in program history with 2,400 career points in 161 games. Warnock is 25th with 1,268 points in 121 games.

LSU-Iowa pregame stories

» Tickets to see Caitlin Clark in metro Dallas pricier than those for Taylor Swift

» The finish line has arrived: Iowa vs. LSU, for the NCAA women’s basketball championship

» Why not us, Iowa women ask about winning the NCAA title. Well, why not?

» As Caitlin Clark stars in Final Four, Iowa fans also embrace supporting cast

» Like much of America, Kim Mulkey has her eyes squarely on Caitlin Clark

Comments: nathan.ford@thegazette.com