Women's NCAA Tournament championship game draws record ratings

Per ESPN PR, an average of 9.9 million people watched the game which peaked at 12.6 million viewers. Per Sports Illustrated, "The game drew over four million more viewers than the previous women's college basketball record ... the 2002 national championship game between UConn and Oklahoma."

The game also served as a boost to ESPN's digital service, ESPN+. According to the network, LSU-Iowa represents the most-watched college event in the streamer's five-year history.

The Tigers scored a finals-record 102 points in their 102-85 blowout win over the Hawkeyes, winning the first basketball national title — men's or women's — in program history and forward Angel Reese set an NCAA record with her 34th double-double of the season.

Iowa's Caitlin Clark was the main attraction heading into the game and certainly didn't disappoint. If anything, it speaks to her greatness that her 30-point performance in which she set the record for most made threes in a title game (eight) felt like a step-down after her brilliant, back-to-back 41-point performances in the Elite Eight and Final Four.

It's impossible to downplay the significance of Sunday's championship game. While the officiating certainly left plenty to be desired, that was the only aspect of the game that wasn't firing on all cylinders. And with Reese breaking Twitter by giving Clark a taste of her own medicine with a hand-wave taunt at the end of the game, we should only be so lucky if the two teams play each other again next season.

As great and historic as this women's NCAA Tournament was, it should just be the launchpad for the sport growing even bigger.