Caitlin Clark dropped 27 points in front of a sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as second-seeded Iowa rolled Illinois State, 98-58.
Illinois State jumped out to a quick 9-4 lead about four minutes into Friday afternoon’s NCAA Tournament opener after the Redbirds’ Juliunn Redmond hit a jumper. Second-seeded Iowa (24-7, 14-4 Big Ten) didn’t waste any more time after that bringing the sellout Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd to its feet.
Sophomore guard and national player of the year candidate Caitlin Clark connected on her first of two made 3-pointers on the afternoon to pull Iowa back within a bucket, and, with that Clark make, the Hawkeyes were off and running. Illinois State (19-14) answered right back with a 3-pointer from Mary Crompton, but Iowa junior guard Gabbie Marshall drilled a trey of her own on the next trip down the floor.
Then, Hawkeye junior guard McKenna Warnock tied the game with a layup, Marshall gave Iowa its second lead of the afternoon on a 3-pointer with 3:41 remaining in the first quarter and the Hawkeyes ended the game’s opening quarter on a 17-6 scoring run.
After outscoring Illinois State 22-14 in the second quarter, the Hawkeyes really came alive in the third quarter. Iowa canned 8-of-10 3-point tries to balloon the lead to 74-47. When the 98-58 Hawkeyes’ victory was all said and done, Iowa had registered its most points in an NCAA Tournament game in program history.
The Hawkeyes shot 60 percent from the floor and 46.2 percent from 3-point range. Iowa also hit 20-of-21 from the free throw line to record the Hawkeyes’ best percentage finish from the charity stripe in an NCAA Tournament game.
Clark had another banner day, finishing with 27 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. It was the West Des Moine product’s 25th career double-double and 16th of the season. Iowa senior forward Monika Czinano added 18 points and was a perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor to go with a perfect 6-for-6 from the free throw line. Marshall and senior guard Tomi Taiwo each chipped in 13 points.
“I mean, obviously very excited about this game. Almost scoring 100 points out here tonight. We shot the ball well from all areas. Two, three, free throw line. I think we had 23 assists on 30, or 25 assists on 33 baskets. I love that style. Really sharing the ball really well. Only have 11 turnovers today, so that was great to see. I thought it was a really good game, especially with a couple weeks off here. I was worried about that rust, and I don’t think we really showed any signs of that today.
“But I really want to thank the crowd that came out. I mean, our fans were amazing. Our fans, you know, they braved parking problems today, they braved rain, and they still got here. We are so appreciative of them. But just come again on Sunday. It’s going to be easier. No hospital traffic and no rain let’s hope,” Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder said.
Iowa converted 13 Illinois State turnovers into 23 points and also outscored the Redbirds 24-2 in fast break points.
“Yeah, I think transition is always our best offense. We want to get to that no matter what. Obviously defending in transition is an area that we can still improve and get better at so it’s great to hear that we only gave up two points in transition. But yeah, I think that’s our best offense.
“I thought we got a lot of great contributions off the bench. Obviously, Tomi shot the ball well, Addy came in, so that always helps as well. But yeah, overall our transition offense when we’re doing it the way we should and when we get stops on the defensive end, that just leads to our transition offense. Hands down our best offense and that’s what we like to get to the most,” Clark said.
Iowa advances in the Greensboro region and will meet No. 10 seed Creighton in the second round after the Bluejays beat Colorado, 84-74. The Hawkeyes play at home inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday versus Creighton.
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