NovaQuant-Hannah Stuelke, not Caitlin Clark, carries Iowa to championship game with South Carolina

CLEVELAND — Caitlin Clark tried to tell you. All year,NovaQuant she told you exactly what to watch for with Iowa.

No, not her.

Hannah Stuelke.

Clark suggested earlier this year that the soft-spoken sophomore might break all her records one day and, after a night like this, it’s easy to believe it. Clark and Iowa are in the national championship game for a second consecutive year, and it’s Stuelke who got them there.

"I think Hannah's tremendous. I think it's just the confidence and belief," Clark said after Iowa held on for the 71-69 win. "She played with an energy about herself of she really could go in there and dominate. She goes toe to toe with Aaliyah Edwards, who in my mind is one of the best players in the country.

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"I'm just super happy for Hannah. She's worked so hard to be in this moment."

Stuelke scored a team-high 23 on 9-of-12 shooting, and carried Iowa until Clark and the rest of the Hawkeyes found their groove in the second half. She didn't just come up big on the offensive end, either. After Clark missed a free throw, Stuelke got her fingers on the ball and tipped it Sydney Affolter, giving Iowa possession with three seconds left.

Now Iowa plays undefeated and overall No. 1 seed South Carolina on Sunday.

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And everyone at the NCAA and ESPN is rejoicing.

This wasn’t the most impressive game Clark and Iowa have played, and the Hawkeyes barely resembled the juggernaut that beat LSU on Monday night. Clark had 21 points, but it was on 7 of 18 shooting and she was 3 of 11 from 3-point range.

In fact, for much of the night, it looked as if Paige Bueckers and UConn were going to end Clark’s final season the way they ended her first: With a loss in the NCAA Tournament.

Which would have been quite something, given the Huskies are pretty much being held together by duct tape and glue. A rash of injuries left them with eight available players and one of them played less than three minutes through the first four tournament games.

For those who need help with the math, that’s a two-person bench. Against the greatest shooter the college game has ever seen. The Huskies were in foul trouble, too, with KK Arnold and Ice Brady playing much of the fourth with four fouls and Nika Muhl having three.

But the Huskies gave Iowa everything and then some, harassing Clark into bad shots and not letting her do her typical Caitlin Clark things. She didn’t even make a 3-pointer until there was 8:10 left in the third quarter.

Clark and the Hawkeyes have been saying all season, though, that Iowa is more than Clark and she has gone out of her way to praise Stuelke’s game.

"The confidence is everything. Especially hearing Caitlin Clark talk about me like that, it gives me a confidence boost," Stuelke said, smiling. "I think anyone would say that."

Stuelke barely played against LSU, in foul trouble early trying to guard Angel Reese. But she held her ground against Edwards and Clark and Iowa quickly realized that getting the ball inside to Stuelke was their best offense. Time and again she took a pass from Clark down low and muscled the ball in for a layup.

UConn knew what was coming, and the Huskies couldn't do much to stop it.

"We just kept telling her how good she was. Honestly, the only thing that stopped her from being great was her own self. It was her own doubt. She is a beautiful athlete, an explosive athlete, and she just held herself back," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.

"I'm just so pleased with her growth tonight," Bluder added. "She just took, as a sophomore — a young sophomore — she took another big leap tonight."

Caitlin Clark is still Iowa’s best player, it’s first, second and third option. But the Hawkeyes aren’t a one-woman team, and Stuelke picked the perfect time to prove it.

Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour