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  4. Controversial calls and Kim Mulkey's antics overshadowed the women's national championship game

Controversial calls and Kim Mulkey's antics overshadowed the women's national championship game

Meredith Cash   

Controversial calls and Kim Mulkey's antics overshadowed the women's national championship game
  • The LSU Tigers beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 to win their program's first national championship.
  • Despite stellar play from LSU, questionable foul calls and coach Kim Mulkey's conduct marred the game.

The LSU Tigers played an impressive 40 minutes of basketball to best the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 and win their first national championship in program history.

But after a series of questionable calls took the game's biggest stars off the court right as LSU head coach Kim Mulkey threw several sequin-flailing, heel-stomping tantrums that went unaddressed, the focus of the contest shifted from actual gameplay to the officiating.

"I can't comment on the officials," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in her postgame press conference. "It's very frustrating because I feel like I can't talk to them. They won't even listen."

"That's what's frustrating is there wasn't even a conversation that could be had," she added.

The drama began not long after tipoff at 3:30 p.m. ET. Several of the Tigers' starters found themselves in foul trouble by the end of the first quarter. And despite her team carrying a five-point lead into the second quarter, Mulkey was frustrated that some of her players were limited by their early personals.

"I've got two [players] over there with fouls in the first quarter," Mulkey said, gesturing to her bench. "We're gonna play aggressive. Now they're either gonna call it aggressive on both ends or let 'em play, and we can do either."

But the tides turned toward the Hawkeyes as the game continued. Superstar point guard Caitlin Clark picked up a pair of offensive fouls in the second quarter, while Iowa's biggest threat in the paint — Monika Czinano — was stuck on the bench with two fouls of her own.

And in the third quarter, tensions came to a head. Frustrated with the lack of a foul call on a jumper from senior forward LaDazhia Williams, Mulkey strode onto the court and, as she splayed her arms in protest, collided with one of the game's referees.

The official used her arm to pull the animated Hall of Famer back to the sideline. And even as Mulkey appeared to swat away the ref's arm as she continued to object, she faced no repercussions for the outburst.

Less than four minutes later, the former Baylor Bears head coach once again confronted the officials for a no-call on Czinano, who used her elbow to power her way past Williams and to the basket for a lay-up. Mulkey stormed up the flank of the court and yelled into the referee's ear as she gestured wildly with her hands.

Moments later, the ref blew the whistle; Mulkey used a coach's appeal to try to secure the call retroactively. She and LSU lost a timeout when the no-call was upheld, but the momentum shifted considerably following the extended delay of play.

Czinano picked up her fourth foul with a minute left in the quarter, and a moment later, Clark was slapped with a technical foul. As she joined her teammates in the huddle under the basket, she tossed the bouncing ball behind her back and toward the baseline.

Whether Clark threw the ball out of frustration or genuinely thought she was passing it to a referee was unclear. But regardless of her intentions, the action left her in serious trouble with four fouls of her own.

Czinano ultimately fouled out with 6:25 remaining in the fourth quarter, while fellow senior McKenna Warnock picked up her fifth foul with 90 seconds left in the contest.

"Obviously foul trouble not really what you want in a national championship game, especially for our two seniors who have given so much to this program and had to finish their career on the bench," Clark said in the postgame press conference. "It's not something they deserved by any means."

"I thought [the officials] called it very, very tight," she added. "I don't know about the two push-offs in the second quarter. I'm sure they saw that I pushed off and they called it and whatnot, and then hit with the technical foul in the third for throwing the ball under the basket. Sometimes that's how things go."

Fans on the internet, however, were perplexed at how Clark and her teammates faced such stringent officiating while Mulkey got away scot-free:

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