The battle to win the NCAA Women’s National Basketball Championship may have been between the LSU Tigers and Iowa Hawkeyes. However, for many, it was a personal match-up between the team’s two stars.

Iowa’s Caitlin Clark had been crowned the best player at college level. She was expected to lead the Hawkeyes to victory over LSU, despite the latter having only two defeats all season.

As it turned out, an Angel Reese-inspired LSU came out victorious 102-85. The shooting guard grabbed the headlines with her “you can’t see me” celebration in front of Clark. This mocked her ‘go-to’ one that she has used throughout the tournament.

Angel Reese #10 of the LSU Tigers reacts towards Caitlin Clark #22 of the Iowa Hawkeyes during the fourth quarter during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on April 2, 2023. Shooting guard Reese grabbed the headlines with her “you can’t see me” celebration in front of Clark.GETTY IMAGES
Reese then doubled-down by pointing at her ring finger in the dying moments of the game.

As well as this gesture, how Reese has spoken with confidence after the game and on social media has meant a dramatic increase in her followers on both Instagram and Twitter over the past 24 hours or so.

According to SocialBlade, Reese’s Instagram followers have grown by over 400,000 since Sunday night. This meant that, on Monday night, she broke through the million-followers barrier on the platform.

Reese was quick to thank those who have joined her social media since the win over Iowa.

She posted a pic of her Instagram page on her Stories with the “1m” followers circled with a pink heart along with a message to her followers.

Reese wrote: “Ahhhh we at a milli OMGGGGG I love y’all how y’all love me!! One thing y’all gon do is have my back. We going upppp”

This is compared to Clark’s followers rising by 150,000 in the same period to 473,000. This is now fewer than half the fans that Reese is attracting.

Angel Reese #10 of the LSU Tigers speaks during a press conference after her team beat the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85 during the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament championship game at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, on April 2, 2023. Her gestures and powerful social-media presence have led to a surge in followers of her accounts.GETTY IMAGES
Over on Twitter, it is a similar story with Reese once again almost doubling the amount of followers than Clark has. At the time of writing, Reese has risen to over 203,000 followers, with an increase of 156,000 since the final hooter on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Clark has been left behind on Twitter. She has moved to 114,000 followers, after being 20,000 ahead of Reese just 24 hours ago.

It may be that the straight-talking, sassy vibe of Reese is winning the day, compared to Clark’s more ‘business-like’ approach to her social media.

Speaking at a press conference after the championship, Reese said that she won’t be keeping quiet about matters that she feels she needs to speak out about. She added that her gesturing towards Clark got more attention than it should have done.

Reese said: “I don’t fit in the box that y’all want me to be in. I’m too hood, I’m too ghetto, y’all told me that all year.

“When other people do it, y’all don’t say nothing. This was for the people that look like me,” Reese added.

She later wrote in a tweet: “and no I’M NOT KEEPING IT CUTE.”