LSU’s Angel Reese reacts in entrance of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in the course of the second half of the NCAA Women’s Final Four championship basketball sport April 2, 2023, in Dallas.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

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Tony Gutierrez/AP

LSU’s Angel Reese reacts in entrance of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark in the course of the second half of the NCAA Women’s Final Four championship basketball sport April 2, 2023, in Dallas.

Tony Gutierrez/AP

A extremely anticipated sport in ladies’s NCAA basketball is simply across the nook and it isn’t the championship.

Louisiana State University and the University of Iowa are set to compete at 7 p.m. ET on Monday within the Elite Eight, bringing collectively two of faculty basketball’s greatest stars: LSU’s Angel Reese and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark will face off for a ultimate time on the collegiate stage.

Many see the sport as a rematch of final yr’s nationwide championship when LSU beat Iowa 102-85. While Monday’s sport will not finish with a championship ring, the stakes are nonetheless excessive, as it can decide who will advance to the Final Four.

In a press convention Saturday, Clark mentioned she is trying ahead to enjoying LSU.

“Any time you have a chance to go up against somebody you lost to, it brings a little more energy,” she mentioned. “I think overall, it’s going to be a really great game for women’s basketball.”

Clark and Reese’s time on the court docket collectively final yr additionally drew some controversy.

During the sport, whereas celebrating her group’s fourth-quarter lead, Reese waved one hand in entrance of her face — a gesture extensively referred to as wrestler John Cena’s “You Can’t See Me” transfer — and tapped her ring finger whereas gazing Clark.

Reese shortly obtained backlash, with commentators and observers calling it unsportsmanlike. At one level, the phrase “classless” in reference to Reese trended on Twitter.

Others chimed in to notice that Clark too had used the identical gestures throughout March Madness, however didn’t obtain such criticisms. Many called that an instance of a racist double customary.

But because the hand gesture drama, each gamers declare there isn’t any beef between them.

“Me and Caitlin Clark don’t hate each other. I want everybody to understand that. It’s just a super-competitive game,” Reese told reporters Sunday.

“I’ve watched a lot of LSU games and what they’re doing for women’s basketball and the way their fans support, it’s tremendous,” Clark informed ESPN’s Holly Rowe on Saturday. “They’ve had a great season so I know it’s gonna be a great game and both teams are gonna be ready to go.”

This season, Clark turned the all-time leading scorer in NCAA Division 1 basketball, males’s or ladies’s. In late February, she introduced that this season could be her final with the Hawkeyes and that she plans to enter the WNBA draft.