Iowa opened up its Big Ten Tournament title defense with a 69-58 victory over the seventh-seeded Purdue Boilermakers from the Target Center in Minneapolis.
The Hawkeyes (24-6, 15-3 Big Ten) were led by National Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark’s 22 points on 8-of-18 shooting. The West Des Moines native knocked down 3-of-9 3-pointers, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out four assists.
Iowa also got 14 points from star center Monika Czinano on another efficient 6-of-7 shooting. Gabbie Marshall rounded out the Hawkeyes’ double-figure scorers with 11 points, including 3-of-5 from 3-point distance.
Marshall has hit 17 of her last 28 3-point attempts in the past eight games.
The Hawkeyes outpaced Purdue in points in the paint by a 28-22 tally and in fast break points 18-8.
Iowa led after one quarter 19-10, but Purdue narrowed the gap to 29-25 at halftime and briefly led 34-33 with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter. After a Caitlin Clark and-1 was answered by a jumper from Purdue’s Madison Layden, Iowa broke the 36-36 tie with a 7-0 run to seize control heading to the fourth.
Iowa opened the fourth quarter on a 5-0 spurt and Caitlin Clark scored 10 in the first four and a half minutes of the final period to give the Hawkeyes their largest lead of the evening at 15.
Sure, it didn’t have the theatrics of the win over Indiana or the aesthetics for Iowa fans of some of the Hawkeyes’ blowout wins. But, it’s a win in the Big Ten Tournament that sends Iowa on into the semifinals against No. 3 Maryland at 4 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
This time of year, fans will surely take it. As will Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder.
“What I want to do is thank our fans. I mean, they were amazing. It was Hawkeye Carver Arena North up here. It was amazing to go out there and see all the Hawkeye fans, and we’re so grateful for all that support. Obviously, we needed it today.
“Purdue came out, gave us a great battle. We shot the ball much better in the second half. I thought Gabbie worked really, really hard on defense. I thought she did a great job for us. We got the ball better in the paint the second half, and I thought that was good. We move on to tomorrow,” Bluder said.
With the win, Iowa improved to 21-2 when leading at halftime, 7-0 when allowing 59 or fewer points and won despite their second-lowest point total of the season.
The Hawkeyes have defeated 19 opponents by double figures this season. Naturally, fans enjoyed the performance. Here’s the best from social media after the Hawkeyes sent the Boilermakers packing.