There is no shame to be had in losing to one of the best players in women’s college basketball, but that doesn’t take the sting out of a tough end to its Big Ten tournament run for the Penn State Lady Lions. Penn State got off to a slow start against Iowa in the Big Ten quarterfinals on Friday night, with Iowa’s star player Caitlin Clark leading the way with 25 points.
Penn State fell behind in the first quarter by a score of 31-13 and was unable to climb out of the hole. The Hawkeyes put the game on ice in the fourth quarter with another 30-point outburst in the quarter to pull away for a 95-62 victory over the Lady Lions.
Leilani Kapinus led Penn State with 19 points and 5 rebounds and Ashley Owusu added 18 points and 6 rebounds in the losing effort. Iowa’s Clark posted 25 points and 10 rebounds with 7 assists to help Iowa advance to the Big Ten semifinals. With the Big Ten top seed Ohio State being upset by Maryland on Friday, the Hawkeyes are the clear favorite to capture the Big Ten tournament championship for a second consecutive season with Clark leading the way.
Penn State was burned from three-point range by the Hawkeyes. Iowa hit 15 three-pointers in the game and drained 26 of 30 free throw attempts. Penn State went to the free throw line just 9 times and hit just 7 of 33 attempts from three-point range.
The fate of the season and whether or not Penn State will play in the NCAA women’s basketball tournament now lies in the hands of the NCAA selection committee. The committee will determine the field for this year’s women’s basketball tournament on Sunday, March 17. Penn State was the last team to get in the tournament according to Charlie Creme of ESPN in his latest bracketology update. Penn State will be keeping a watchful eye on the developments in the rest of the conference tournament action leading up to Selection Sunday.
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