After reviewing the women’s basketball national championship, the NCAA ruled that the officiating in the game was below its standards.
The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that the organization shared its findings after controversy swirled around the matchup where Louisiana State defeated Iowa, 102-85, for its first title.
Lynn Holzman, NCAA vice president for women’s basketball, said that the game was analyzed to see the accuracy of the calls and that it fell short compared to the usual target.
“In the championship game itself, for example, we typically have a performance that I think is 91% historically,’ she said. ‘In that game, the percentage of correct calls was below that, around 88%. That’s factually the case.”
An independent official also studied the game and found the accuracy of the calls was much lower. The unidentified individual said that among the missed calls was a foul on Tigers star Angel Reese that shouldn’t have been called and two offensive fouls — one on LSU and one on Iowa — that were not called but should have been.
South Carolina coach Dawn Staley commented on the findings on X, formerly Twitter.
‘So the independent review was done under anonymity but it is known who the officials were….all black and brown skinned women,’ she wrote. ‘Now that they’re thrown under the bus let’s not run them over.’
Last season, the Gamecocks reached the Final Four and were defeated by the Hawkeyes. It was their third straight appearance in the semifinals.
The NCAA had a lineup of all women officiating the Final Four for the first time in its history. Lisa Jones, Michol Murray and Pualani Spurlock-Welsh were the referees for the championship game.
A particular call that had fans upset was a technical foul on Hawkeyes star Caitlyn Clark in the third quarter. It was her fourth personal foul of the game.
After the game, Jones explained the reasoning behind the foul. She cited last season’s NCAA women’s basketball rulebook, which states a technical foul can be called ‘after a team warning has been issued, attempting to gain an advantage by interfering with the ball after a goal or by failing to immediately pass the ball to the nearest official after the whistle has blown.’
“Iowa received a delay of game warning in the third period at the 7:28 mark for batting the ball away after a made basket, causing a delay,” Jones said in a statement, per basketball reporter Khristina Williams. “The second offense was when No. 22 from Iowa [Clark] picked up the ball and failed to immediately pass the ball to the nearest official after the whistle was blown.’
This offseason, the NCAA removed that specific rule regarding the delay of game penalty as part of an update to the rule book.
