LSU’s Angel Reese waved her hand in entrance of her face whereas staring down Caitlin Clark, then pointed towards her finger as if to say a hoop was coming whereas strolling towards the Iowa star.
The gestures late within the Tigers’ 102-85 victory within the NCAA championship sport Sunday lit up social media, with feedback supporting the “Bayou Barbie” for trash speak that is simply a part of the sport and condemning her for missing grace in victory.
The bubbly junior from Baltimore, who transferred from Maryland to hitch flamboyant LSU coach Kim Mulkey, was unapologetic within the postgame information convention.
“All yr, I used to be critiqued about who I used to be,” Reese mentioned. “I do not slot in a field that you just all need me to be in. I’m too hood. I’m too ghetto. But when different folks do it, you all say nothing. So this was for the ladies that seem like me, that is going to talk up on what they imagine in. It’s unapologetically you.”
ANGEL REESE TO CAITLIN CLARK 😳 <a href=”https://t.co/2NY0CEzwJ3″>pic.twitter.com/2NY0CEzwJ3</a>
—@SportsCenter
Clark, the scoring sensation who was the primary with consecutive 40-point video games in an NCAA Tournament, made the face-waving gesture to nobody specifically throughout an Elite Eight victory over Louisville.
The Associated Press Player of the Year wasn’t shy about displaying her feelings when the Hawkeyes knocked off undefeated defending nationwide champion South Carolina within the semifinals.
If she noticed Reese’s gestures, Clark did not appear involved about them.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to get to the handshake line and shake fingers and be grateful that my staff was in that place,” mentioned Clark, who scored 30 factors. “That’s all you are able to do is maintain your head excessive, be happy with what you probably did. All the credit score on this planet to LSU. They had been super.”
In a 79-72 semifinal victory over Virginia Tech, Reese made what gave the impression to be a “you are too small” gesture a number of instances after scoring across the basket.
The modern 6-foot-3 put up with modelling aspirations is turning into a social media magnet. Reese wooed Lil Wayne after chastising the rapper from New Orleans for reaching out to Elite Eight opponent Miami earlier than doing the identical with the Tigers.
<a href=”https://t.co/NG0NrjapVT”>pic.twitter.com/NG0NrjapVT</a>
—@Reese10Angel
“I’m going to be me, however I can not do it with out the ladies right here, and I can not do it with out the remainder of my teammates and coaches,” mentioned Reese, who had 15 factors and 10 rebounds whereas three teammates scored not less than 20 factors.
She was named the Most Outstanding Player on the Final Four after setting an NCAA single-season document together with her thirty fourth double-double in opposition to the Hawkeyes.
“Twitter can say what Twitter can say,” Reese mentioned. “I really like studying these feedback. I’ve all of the screenshots of what everyone has mentioned about me all season. What are you going to say now?”
Women’s championship sport breaks viewership document
LSU’s victory was the most-viewed NCAA girls’s basketball sport on document, with 9.9 million viewers on ABC and ESPN2 in line with quick nationwide numbers by Nielsen.
The whole viewers is a 103 per cent leap over final yr, when South Carolina defeated UConn and averaged 4.85 million on ESPN and ESPN2. The viewers on Sunday at one level peaked at 12.6 million.
LSU’s first nationwide title in girls’s basketball was the primary on community tv since UConn’s win over Tennessee in 1995. That sport averaged 7.4 million on CBS.
ESPN took over the rights to the whole match the next yr. The earlier community excessive for a girls’s nationwide championship sport was in 2002, when UConn beat Oklahoma.
The document scores come because the NCAA is deciding whether or not to separate the ladies’s match or maintain it as a part of the championships TV package deal that features not less than 24 sports activities. That contract expires subsequent yr, with the NCAA anticipated to determine the following steps in negotiations by the autumn.
