The ending wasn’t what the fans or Iowa women’s basketball team were looking for. Tenth-seeded Creighton pulled off one of the NCAA Tournament’s big shockers by topping No. 2 seed Iowa, 64-62, in Iowa City.
The environment that Iowa fans created during the Hawkeyes’ two NCAA Tournament games was special, though. Each of Iowa’s tournament games against Illinois State and Creighton were played in front of sellout crowds.
After scoring 27 points on 12-for-20 shooting, Iowa senior forward Monika Czinano said the fan support was unparalleled.
“Yeah, I mean, I think what Iowa does and how they support women’s basketball is unlike anything anywhere. Walking out of the tunnel and seeing that many people is almost unexplainable. It fills you with joy and it makes the game so fun and it fuels you. I just thank you so much to everybody who came out today. It does suck to have that volume of people here and not be able to perform, but I really think that getting that many people in one gym to watch women’s sports is huge, and it just goes to show the love and dedication that they show to us here.
“But I think we’re a fun team to watch. I think people are picking up on that and I think it’s drawing more eyes to the sport. Obviously Caitlin’s a phenomenal player and that brings it, too. But people come a lot of times for Caitlin’s name and they stay because we’re so fun to watch as a collective unit. I’m just so proud of what we’re doing here, and the story is not over for us,” Czinano said.
Iowa sophomore standout guard Caitlin Clark echoed those sentiments from Czinano. The Big Ten Player of the Year said it was a shame to not be able to win in front of the standing-room-only crowd, but also pointed to the excitement for this group entering next season.
“Obviously a wonderful opportunity for a women’s basketball game today on ABC in front of a sold-out crowd. I just feel bad for our fans because they’ve given us so much over these past two weeks, really willed us to a regular season title here at home versus Michigan, and I hope they come out and support us the exact same way next year. I know they will. I think there’s a lot of exciting basketball ahead for this group, but obviously the feeling of letting them down, letting the coaches down, our teammates down, it stinks right now, but I think overall just more fuel for us going into next year,” Clark said.
Clark finished her season by scoring 15 points on 4-for-19 shooting. She also collected her 17th double-double of the season as she dished out 11 assists and grabbed eight rebounds. Similar to her players, Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder praise the Iowa fan base.
“Our crowd today was amazing again. I think we broke the NCAA record for first and second rounds of attendance, and I apologize to our fans that they couldn’t celebrate a victory with us today. They have been amazing all year, but boy, these last three games they’ve been incredible. So I want to thank them. I want to thank our administration because it’s a lot of hard work putting on an event like this and doing it with the class that Iowa does. And I want to thank them for that,” Bluder said.
Iowa ends its season at 24-8 overall. The Hawkeyes shared the Big Ten regular season title and won the Big Ten Tournament.
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