It couldn’t have ended any other way. Not with a raucous, sellout crowd on hand inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena after Iowa City hosted its first College GameDay earlier this morning.
Not after the magic from the day before inside Carver. Right now, Iowa City is the epicenter of late-game college basketball heroics.
After Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes netted a pair of free throws to put the Hoosiers up 85-83, Iowa had one last gasp with 1.5 seconds remaining. The game’s biggest star went to work.
A perfectly designed and perfectly executed inbounds play got Iowa star Caitlin Clark the look she wanted. Monika Czinano’s screen freed up Clark just enough and sent Indiana guard Chloe Moore-McNeil tumbling to the floor and then scrambling to catch up.
Kate Martin fired in the pass to Clark and the rest was history. As superstars do in the biggest moments, Clark nailed an off-balance 3-pointer as time expired to down No. 2 Indiana, 86-85. It set off a wild celebration inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena and on Twitter.