By Pat Harty

A moving screen is a moving screen even if it happens with 3.9 seconds left in an NCAA Tournament semifinal game.

And what UConn forward Aaliyah Edwards planted on Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall was without question a moving screen in which a foul on Edwards was correctly called.

It’s unfortunate that it happened when it did as it took away from what was a scintillating matchup between the long-standing premier power in women’s college basketball in UConn and an emerging power in Iowa.

UConn fans obviously disagreed with the call with some going as far as saying the game was rigged so that Iowa and Caitlin Clark would face undefeated and top-ranked South Carolina in the national game on Sunday.

Others have said that while it probably was a foul, it shouldn’t have been called at that stage of the game.

Both of those arguments are just silly, especially the one suggesting that the game was rigged.

UConn had a 12-point lead in the first half, but failed to protect it and couldn’t put Iowa away.

The Huskies also had a chance to grab a rebound after Clark missed the second of two free throws in the final seconds, but they failed to do so.

Game over.

Clark and her cohorts live to play another day, while UConn is left to ponder what could have been.

“There’s probably an illegal screen call that you could make on every single possession,” UConn head coach Geno Auriemma said afterwards.  “I just know that there were three or four of them called on us and I don’t think there were any called on them.”

Even if that were true, it still doesn’t change the fact that Edwards was moving on the screen, and that her elbow and leg were sticking out when she made contact with Marshall, who then did a great job of selling the foul.

UConn was trying to set up a shot for star guard Paige Bueckers on the play in which Edwards was called for setting an illegal screen.

“Not one single plays wins a basketball game or loses a basketball game,” Bueckers said. “There was a lot of mistakes that I made that could have prevented that play from being that big.”

Bueckers deserves praise for handling a tough situation with dignity and class.

Iowa deserves praise for absorbing UConn’s early punch and then being in position to win the game at the end.

Again, it’s unfortunate that it came down to a controversial call, but it wasn’t controversial if you go by the rules.

Marshall explained why she knew it was a moving screen when it happened.

“I was staying on her hip the whole game, and if I’m on her hip the person can’t move into you,” Marshall said of Bueckers. “They have to give me room to go around if you’re sticking with them on their hip. And so I hit it (the screen). I knew it was a moving screen.”

UConn fans will dismiss this commentary as just a case of being a Hawkeye homer.

Fine. Whatever.

That still doesn’t change the fact that it was a moving screen, and that it was correctly called a foul.