Caitlin Clark led the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday with a near triple-double in a 91-65 first-round win over Holy Cross at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds as Iowa cruised.
She was also fortunate to not sustain an injury when she took a “stinger” to the face from Holy Cross senior Bronagh Power-Cassidy, who was assessed a flagrant-1 foul for the contact.
As Power-Cassidy cut to the basket around a pick and tried to get by Clark, she swung her left arm and inadvertently clocked Clark in the face. At least, that’s how Clark explained the incident after the game.
Holy Cross’s Bronagh Power-Cassidy planted this on Caitlin Clark’s face & it was deemed a flagrant one, intentional foul… but she stayed in the game.
Right call or nah?
— Jon Tweets Sports (@jontweetssports) March 23, 2024
Clark told reporters afterward that Power-Cassidy apologized to her on the court after the contact.
“Obviously it looked kind of bad in slow-mo, but it wasn’t on purpose, she didn’t do that on purpose.”
It was just a stinger to the nose folks 😤😅 pic.twitter.com/UdGrZxcAsd
— FOX College Hoops (@CBBonFOX) March 23, 2024
Most importantly, Clark said she’s not hurt.
“Honestly, I’m totally OK.”
Iowa moves on to play the West Virginia Mountaineers in the second round on Monday.