Iowa women's basketball blows out Rutgers behind a balanced scoring effort

The Hawkeyes arrived at a sold out Jersey Mike’s Arena in Piscataway looking for a get right effort against Rutgers. After a near disaster earlier in the week against Michigan State, Caitlin Clark and Co. came out and put together a dominating performance. Iowa scored 55 first half points and rolled to a 103-69 win over the Scarlet Knights to move their win streak to 12 in a row. Five players scored in double figures, while Caitlin Clark put up her 14th career triple-double.

Rutgers came into the game with an 0-3 mark in Big Ten play, but had shown the ability to shorten games, averaging just 68.3 possessions per game over the last five contests. However, early in the night, the Scarlet Knights tried to run and gun with the Hawkeyes. That proved to be the wrong plan of attack.

Molly Davis hit a pair of first quarter three-pointers, while Caitlin Clark led the way with nine points. Rutgers forward Destiny Adams put up a double-double against Purdue, but two early fouls had her on the bench for the bulk of the opening ten minutes. Iowa took a 25-19 lead into the second quarter.

That’s when things started to flow for the Hawkeyes. They assisted on 16 of 21 made field goals in the first half and outscored the Scarlet Knights 30-13 in the second quarter. Gabbie Marshall hit a couple of threes and Iowa took a 55-30 lead into the half. Lisa Bluder’s squad outrebounded Rutgers 31-13 in the first half and never allowed them to get any momentum on the offensive glass.

Gabbie from 👌@GabbieMarshall x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/Xw43enoqza

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) January 5, 2024

The domination continued in the second half, with five Hawkeyes reaching double figures in scoring. With 9:05 to play, Caitlin Clark found Hannah Stuelke in the paint for a basket and that was the final assist she needed to finish off her 14th career triple-double. Clark finished with 29 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists to just three turnovers. She sits just 66 points shy of passing former Baylor center Brittney Griner for fourth on the NCAA all-time scoring list.

In a 38-point victory, the biggest storyline of the night was not only the balanced scoring, but the three-point shooting from Gabbie Marshall. She knocked down four three-pointers and finished with 12 points. The Hawkeyes are certainly hoping that she can get into a rhythm from behind the arc going forward.

Elsewhere on the roster, Kate Martin was excellent going for 17 points on 7/10 shooting, as well as seven rebounds and five assists. It’s the tenth time this season that she has scored in double figures, which is one short of tying her career-high for a season. Sydney Affolter continued to be a spark off the bench, finishing with a double-double ten points and ten rebounds in just 17 minutes on the floor. Hannah Stuelke added ten points, seven rebounds and a career-high four assists, while Molly Davis had eight points and five assists.

As a team, Iowa shot 39/72 (54.2%) from the floor, as well as 10/25 (40.0%) from three-point range. They assisted on 28 of their 39 made field goals and turned it over just nine times. Defensively, the Hawkeyes held Rutgers to 26/70 (37.1%) shooting and outrebounded the Scarlet Knights 51-34.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will look to extend their win streak to 13 games, as they travel to West Lafayette for a matchup against the Purdue Boilermakers on January 10th. Tipoff is set for 7:00pm CT and the game will be streamed on Peacock.