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Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark has become one of the most recognizable faces in America. TV ratings are crashing through rafters. Impressive players and increased parity have closed gaps between the game’s heavyweights and their challengers. The sport, which has long been more fundamentally sound than the men’s version, is faster than ever before and more and more fans are getting in on the fun.

Rebecca Tillett’s St. Louis University women’s basketball team on Saturday afternoon secured a special place in the sport’s special season.

For the first time in program history, the Billikens are WNIT champions.

A 69-50 domination of Minnesota at SIUE’s First Community Arena means a new banner will soon hang at Chaifetz Arena.

After close wins as underdogs who played all but one of their postseason games on the road, the Billikens returned close to home with a title on the line, then dominated during their 22nd and final win of the season.

“We felt like all season we had not accessed our best basketball yet, and our team knew that,â€� Tillett said as her players pulled on their championship hats and T-shirts. “Instead of feeling bad about it, let’s go after it and get it. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ worked so hard to do it. It was our best defensive effort of the season. Beautiful sharing of the ball offensively. Start to finish, what an accomplishment by our women.â€�

The Billikens won their first five WNIT games by a combined margin of 21 points. They blitzed the 20-win Gophers by 19.

Spearheaded in scoring by the trio of Kyla McMakin (20 points), WNIT MVP Peyton Kennedy (19) and Kennedy Calhoun (11) the Billikens poured in 11 3-pointers and stifled the Big Ten opponent in a dominant defensive performance that limited the Gophers to a 34 percent field-goal percentage and just four made threes on 23 tries.

SLU scored the first basket of the game, led for nearly 36 minutes throughout and built a 12-point halftime lead to a second-half advantage that grew as big as 25 before Tillett started easing her starters for standing ovations and sideline embraces.

Tillett’s reputation as a postseason pro already was something to keep an eye on.

Now?

It’s an established, impressive trend.

Last season, her first at SLU after arriving from Longwood University, Tillett turned a 7-16 Billikens start into a surge. The Billikens won their A-10 conference tournament against UMass in overtime before being bounced from the NCAA Tournament by No. 4 seed Tennessee.

That SLU debut made Tillett one of just two coaches in NCAA Division I history to lead teams in different conferences to their tournament title in consecutive seasons. The other one? She’s coaching Clark’s Iowa Hakweyes in Sunday’s NCAA Tournament national championship. It’s Lisa Bluder. Good company.

Tillett coming close to something like that again in her second SLU season seemed unlikely despite a veteran roster. The Billikens had lost post force and all-time blocks leader Brooke Flowers. They fell below .500 with a loss to Ball State in their ninth game and found themselves with an 11-17 overall record and a 6-9 mark in Atlantic-10 play after a road loss at Fordham on Feb. 21.

And?

ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ went 12-1 starting with a Feb. 25 win against St. Bonaventure. Their only loss during the span was the A-10 conference tournament semifinal stumble against Rhode Island. There was no hesitation about entering the WNIT. The Billikens felt they had more to prove. They just became their conference’s first WNIT champion and their program’s third 20-plus win team.

“Sometimes teams take longer, which is OK� said Kennedy, who averaged 22.5 points and shot 50.5 percent in WNIT play. “We had so much to learn and the WNIT gave us this opportunity. We believed in ourselves. That speaks to our team. We came out on top.�

Four of SLU’s five WNIT games before Saturday came as on-the-road underdogs. ÁñÁ«ÊÓƵ won the first one against Central Arkansas by five, the second one — and only one on their home court — against Northern Iowa by four, the third one against Purdue Fort Wayne by four, the fourth one against Wisconsin by five, the fifth one against Vermont by three.

Then came Saturday’s romp.

“(Tillett) totally focuses the whole season to be hot late,� SLU athletics director Chris May said from the thick of the postgame party. “That’s why we play so good in tournament time. We really played well in the A-10 and came up a little short. We are playing so much better now than we were three weeks ago. It’s all part of her teaching. I couldn’t be happier for her and the team. It’s not an accident. It’s the way she coaches and the way she builds.�

Speaking of ADs, let’s not forget to give an assist to SIUE athletics director Andrew Gavin and his Cougars. Had SIUE not stepped up and worked with the WNIT to host this game, SLU fans could have been robbed of a chance to witness this championship win. SLU’s Chaifetz Arena was booked for a sold-out concert. Good on the Cougars for being good regional teammates and showing high class.

There was a buzz in the Edwardsville venue as SLU fans filled red seats with blue. Some of the pregame energy could have been attributed to the men’s team announcing the hire of impressive Indiana State coach Josh Schertz that same morning. But then the game started, and it was all about Tillett and her team.

“It’s extra special,� Tillett said. “We are at a tipping point for women’s basketball. It’s always been great. But now everybody knows it’s great. Everybody can see it. You are seeing fans become enamored with the way the women play and compete. I’m grateful we are a part of that story. This group of women was relentless about getting better.�

The women are the big story this college basketball season, and SLU’s impressive run to this WNIT championship belongs smack dab in the middle of a memorable and transformational year.

Tillett in her short time at SLU has now won a conference tournament title and this WNIT championship. After collecting some confetti from the court and climbing a ladder to cut her piece of the net, she didn’t shy away from what she wants to come next. For those keeping score at home, she’s now 11-2 in postseason play.

“Listen, we want to be in the NCAA Tournament every year,� she said. “This year is great preparation for that experience. And now, we know how to win six in a row.�