Iowa Women's Basetball staves off an Iowa State upset attempt at Hilton

The Hawkeyes were the older team, the more veteran led team, the team with the National Player of the Year and the team ranked #4 in the entire country. For 35 minutes, that did not matter. Why? Because it’s the Cy-Hawk game, so you have to expect the unexpected. However, when it mattered most, the veteran led Hawkeyes made the key plays down the stretch and survived an upset scare from the unranked Iowa state Cyclones at Hilton Coliseum.

“Even if I’m back in an Iowa uniform next year, I’m not going to come back and play here every again, so this was my last chance (to win at Hilton),” said Caitlin Clark. “It feels good…this was the last one we wanted to cross off our bucket list to be state champions. We take a lot of pride in that every single year.”

“Very happy to come out of here with a victory. We knew it was going to be a hard fought game, they slowed the ball down, but I thought our defense in the second half was really good,” said head coach Lisa Bluder.

Iowa came into the game as double-digit favorites, but a near capacity crowd at Hilton was ready for a battle. So was Bill Fennelly’s Cyclones squad. It was apparent early in the game that shots were not going to fall, for Iowa, with same frequency as they had been for the last five games. Luckily for the Hawkeyes, the shots weren’t falling on the other end of the floor for Iowa State. The teams were a combined 6/21 (28.5%) from the floor through the first 5.5 minutes of the game. Through ten minutes, Iowa led just 21-18. Caitlin Clark knocked down three three-pointers and had 12 points for the Hawkeyes. Meanwhile, Iowa State got baskets from six different players to keep pace.

Tied at 26 midway through the second quarter, Clark knocked down her fourth three ball of the game. Audi Crooks answered back with her first long ball of the season to tie the game at 29. Crooks had 12 points and eight rebounds to lead the way for the Cyclones in the opening half. For Iowa, things were all over the place. Caitlin Clark had 15 points, which put her just seven points from 3,000. However, everyone else on the team was just 5/20 from the floor. Kate Martin had eight points, but things were setting up similar to the loss against K-State where Clark was forced to take over 50% of the teams shots.

“I felt like we struggled to score in the second quarter. We only had 13 points, but they slowed down the game a lot for us,” said Clark. “Slow taking the ball out, slow bringing the ball up, running ISO sets and it’s just what they did. We kind of just had to live with that.”

There was little to no breathing room for the Hawkeyes in the third quarter. A basket from Isnelle Natabou gave the Cyclones a 39-38 lead, but Caitlin Clark answered with a jumper in the lane. After a stop, Gabbie Marshall found Clark in transition on a trailer three-point attempt and Caitlin knocked it down to make it 43-39 Hawkeyes. Their largest lead since the final 15 seconds of the opening quarter. Not only did the three give Iowa at two possession lead, it pushed Caitlin past 3,000 points for her career.

“It’s special to be able to do it here and have a lot of family in attendance to be able to see that, but it was the same when I broke the Iowa scoring record. We keep playing,” said Clark. “We don’t celebrate in a timeout, we don’t stop the game. It’s not what it’s about as long as we win. I wouldn’t be happy with scoring 3,000 points in a loss.”

At that point in the third quarter, the shot, to Caitlin, was nothing more than a three-pointer that gave her team a four-point lead. It was also a chance for Iowa to take control of the game. The Cyclones scored just six points over the last 7:15 of the quarter, but Iowa only scored ten points. Caitlin Clark scored all 14 points in the third quarter, for the Hawkeyes, while her teammates were 0/6 from the floor. A missed opportunity to put the pressure on a freshman heavy Iowa State team.

The question going into the final ten minutes was, who is going to step up for Iowa and make shots alongside Caitlin to win the game? The answer right away was Kate Martin. She scored nine seconds into the fourth quarter, while Caitlin followed with a layup to extend the Iowa lead to 52-45 and force an Iowa State timeout.

However, the young Cyclones squad answered back. Baskets on three straight possessions, including a baseline jumper from Hannah Belanger put Iowa State up 55-54 with 4:30 to play. It was a 10-2 run that put the Hawkeyes on the ropes and Hilton Coliseum into a frenzy. Lisa Bluder called a timeout to settle her team down.

“Coach Bluder just told us what defense we were in and what offense we were in,” said Kate Martin when asked what was said in the timeout. “We didn’t need to overdo it. We didn’t need some spectacular speech, we just needed to take a deep breath and know that we had each other’s backs…Wasn’t anything crazy. It helped us calm down and get ready for the rest of the game.”

After 35 minutes of back-and-forth, intense, rivalry basketball, the veteran led Iowa Hawkeyes did what they needed to do to come away with a victory. Out of the timeout, Sydney Affolter drove to the basket and drew a foul. After a pair of free throws, the Hawkeyes got a defensive stop and a basket from Kate Martin. Iowa State split a pair of free throws to make it 58-55, but on the ensuing Iowa possession, Kate Martin cut to the hoop and got the feed from Caitlin for a basket to make it 60-56. A minute later, Clark got a layup and ISU took a timeout with 2:02 to play. All the sudden, Iowa led 62-56.

“Caitlin draws so much attention. All eyes are on her because she’s such a threat from everywhere on the court. My player just took their eyes off of me and it gave me the opportunity to cut back door and Caitlin hit me with the pass and I was able to finish.”

Over the final few minutes, the Hawkeye defense stepped up and got stops. Kate Martin and Sydney Affolter recorded steals, while the Cyclones did not make a field goal after they took the lead with 4.5 minutes remaining. In crunch time, when it mattered most, Iowa got the job done. Sydney Affolter and Kate Martin combined to go 5/6 from the free throw line in the final minute to give the Hawkeyes a 67-58 win.

“Experience is always a factor right?,” said Lisa Bluder. “We have more experience than they did. It’s an important element.”

“We’ve been in situations like this before, we’ve been in hostile enviroments in previous years,” said Kate Martin. “We just needed to know that we had each other’s backs and to stay together in that moment.”

Caitlin Clark finished with a game-high 35 points, nine rebounds and five assists, including six three-pointers. In the third quarter, she became the 15th player in NCAA women’s basketball to eclipse 3,000 career points. She joined former Iowa State forward Ashley Joens, as the only other Iowan to accomplish the feat.

“Caitlin surpassing the 3,000 mark is really special. That is a very hard thing to do and to do it this early in her senior season is amazing,” said Lisa Bluder. “When her light shines, it shines on all of us. It shines on the University of Iowa, the state of Iowa and we’re going to enjory it while we have it.”

Kate Martin added 16 points, while Sydney Affolter had seven points and five rebounds off the bench. For the game, the final stats weren’t pretty, but they were enough. The Hawkeyes shot 22/63 (34.9%) from the floor, but held Iowa State to 22/64 (34.4%) shooting. In the fourth quarter Iowa shot 54.5% to the Cyclones 26.7%.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will travel to Madison for their Big Ten opener at the Kohl Center against the Wisconsin Badgers on Sunday. Tipoff is set for 1:30pm CT and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.