Iowa Women's Basketball blasts Florida Gulf Coast

Florida Gulf Coast women’s basketball is known for their three-point shooting. Over 50% of their shot attempts came from three-point range last season and it paid off, as the Eagles went 31-4, including an upset win over Washington State in the NCAA Tournament. Tonight, the Hawkeyes gave them a taste of their own medicine. Iowa knocked down a school record 20 three-pointers and defeated FGCU 100-62 to punch their ticket to the Gulf Coast Showcase Championship on Sunday evening.

Florida Gulf Coast came into the game as the defacto host school. Hertz Arena is just 3.5 miles from Alico Arena, where the Eagles play their home games. A tournament record crowd of over 4,000 fans had a lot of cobalt blue and emerald green mixed in. Despite that, it was the Hawkeye fans in attendance that did all of the cheering.

Right off the bat, Iowa was in control. Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin combined for 15 points in the opening quarter, while Sydney Affolter hit a pair of three-pointers off the bench. For FGCU, Dolly Cairns was the only one that made a basket. The rest of the team shot 0/8 from the floor, while they turned it over nine times. The Hawkeyes led 26-8 after ten minutes, but that was just the start of a full 40 minutes of domination.

The Hawkeyes started the second quarter on a 16-2 run and while FGCU continued to struggle shooting the ball, Iowa continued to knock down shots from behind the arc. In the first half, five different Hawkeye players knocked down a three-pointer. Molly Davis made an impact all over the floor, with seven points, five rebounds and three assists in 14 minutes.

In the second half, the lead got as large as 47 points and never got below 32 points. Meanwhile, the story of the second 20 minutes was the three-point shooting from Gabbie Marshall and Taylor McCabe.

Marshall knocked down a pair of three-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half to extend the lead to 65-30. She knocked down two more from behind the arc in the first 90 seconds of the fourth quarter to make it 82-42. From there, it was all about Taylor McCabe. In the span of 3:18, she hit four three-pointers, with the last one giving Iowa 100 points for the game. The sharp-shooter from Nebraska finished with 18 points on 6/7 shooting from behind the arc.

Any one way you look at the Hawkeyes shooting performance, it was impressive. A school record 20 made three-pointers on just 33 attempts is 60.6%. Inside the three-point line they were even better, shooting 61.5% from two-point range. Six players made at least one three-pointer, while four players made three or more from long range.

Caitlin Clark played just 26 minutes, but finished with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists. Gabbie Marshall was 4/5 from behind the arc and finished with 12 points, while Sydney Affolter added 12 points and four rebounds. Kate Martin (11 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast) and Molly Davis (7 pts, 5 reb, 6 ast) filled up the stat sheet as well. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Eagles 43-20, including 32-12 on the defensive glass.

The win gives head coach Lisa Bluder 500 during her time at the University of Iowa. Her first win came against Marquette in 2000. Now, in her 24th season at Iowa, Bluder has hit another milestone in her coaching career. She has coached Iowa to 20+ wins 16 times, including 14 of the last 16 seasons.

“It will be special for me because I love this place and this place has been good for me. I hope I’ve been good for it,” said Bluder during a recent media availability. “Anytime you have those (milestones), it always makes you reflect on the people that have come through and been there with you throughout the journey.”

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will get a chance at revenge against Kansas State. The Wildcats defeated Western Kentucky and #18 North Carolina en route to the championship game. Tipoff is set for 6:30pm CT on FloHoops.