OMG, friend

The LSU Tigers are, for the first time, NCAA women’s basketball champions!!!

Though the officiating is part of the story, we’re not going to let them win! Everyone showed up for the Tigers, and the players deserve their props.

🏆🏀 Questioned no longer 🏀🏆

Though their regular season was highlighted by a weak non-conference schedule, LSU put all of the pieces together in the tournament when it mattered.

That all culminated in a championship game record 102 points to upset a scorching hot Iowa team in a 17-point win.

Jasmine Carson DOMINATED the first half

A bench player who’d only played 13 minutes in the Final Four, Carson put on an absolute show in the first half. She drained all seven shots she took from the field including five 3-pointers for 21 points!

Alexis Morris took over the second half

The 5-foot-6 guard spent most of the afternoon contesting Caitlin Clark heaves on defense, then became the pick-and-roll maestro on offense. She finished with 21 points and nine assists, all needed to keep a big lead on Iowa.

Angel Reese is Most Outstanding Player of the Tournament

As she should be! She set a division 1 record with 33 double-doubles, her final coming in 15-point, 10-rebound fashion in the title game. She double-doubled in every tournament game, too.

Reese brought the energy from the jump, even playing point-center in spurts.

Angel Reese’s taunt is the meme of the day 💀

Giving Clark back the taunt she’s been using all tournament, Reese let her know who the champ is!

Ok yeah, the officiating was a large problem

I’ll let the tweets do the talking.

We’d be remiss to not give Caitlin Clark her flowers, too

Her magical run may not have ended as she’d hoped, but Clark set multiple records and captured thousands of new fans along the way. She scored 30 points in the final game with eight assists.

And just like Reese, Clark will be back next year as a senior — and possibly one more year after that for COVID-19 eligibility reasons, if she chooses.

Hopefully, we’ll get the pleasure of seeing a rematch (with a different officiating crew).

That was FUN

The most important takeaway of this entire newsletter: women’s sports are only going up from here.

Ratings are sure to have been through the roof for the title game as they were in the Final Four and the Elite Eight. Fans were engaged in the arena and online. News fans were created. Old ones were treated with top-tier hoops.

This was a moment.

✅ Bet results ✅

• LSU won the game, meaning every $10 moneyline bet placed prior to tipoff won $15 profit.

• LSU covered the spread. The Tigers were 3.5-point underdogs!

• The over cashed! LSU scored the most points in championship game history! The over/under was set at just 157 points prior to tip-off. The game had an 189-point result.

• Caitlin Clark’s points player prop hit the under. She finished with 30 points, shy of the 33.5 mark.

• Angel Reese’s rebound player prop also hit the under. She finished with 10 rebounds, shy of the 15.5 mark.

Next up in women’s hoops (after the WNBA Draft next week, of course) is the WNBA season on May 19! Futures bets are already available with the Las Vegas Aces +125 as favorites to repeat. A $10 bet would win $12.50 profit.

You can sign up to place your first bet with BetMGM. If your bet doesn’t win, you’ll get it back in bonus bets up to $1,000.