PERFECT ENDING

Iowa, Clark gets shot at NCAA title with a dream matchup against powerful South Carolina

CLEVELAND >> The perfect player vs. the perfect team. A perfect ending.

This women’s college basketball season, which has pushed the sport to unprecedented popularity, will conclude today with a dream NCAA title game matchup — Iowa and superstar Caitlin Clark against unbeaten South Carolina.

Clark, who has become something of a national treasure while shattering scoring records, will play for the NCAA title that eluded her last season with a loss to LSU.

For the Gamecocks, it’s a chance to avenge their only defeat last season — 7773 to Clark in the semifinals. Clark scored a

CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

Today: Iowa vs. South Carolina, in Cleveland, noon, Ch. 7

Final Four-record 41 points as Iowa ended South Carolina’s 42-game winning streak. It is the only loss for coach Dawn Staley’s team in the last two seasons.

TV ratings are expected to soar for this year’s finale, which has seemed inevitable as Clark knocked down 3-pointers at a neverseen-before rate and the Gamecocks rampaged through the Southeastern Conference and now this tourney.

Iowa’s win last week over Angel Reese and LSU — a rematch of last year’s championship — set a record with 12.3 million viewers.

“It feels like every time we’re going into a game in this NCAA Tournament it’s like everybody wanted to see this, just one after the next,” said Clark, who had to get through LSU and UConn to get back to the final. “It’s good for women’s basketball. Being in this moment before gives our group a good understanding of what to expect.

“We know what South Carolina brings to the table. We know we’re going to have our hands full.”

Not on her game in the first half, Clark scored 15 of her 21 points after halftime as the Hawkeyes (33-4) advanced with a 7169 win over UConn in Friday’s late second semifinal — a game that lived up to its bill