Big Ten Champs

Minneapolis- Iowa hit the first basket of the game when Gabbie Marshall knocked down a trey from the corner pocket, but it was the Cornhuskers that took the early lead. Nebraska rode a 13-2 run after Marshall’s three ball to take a 13-5 lead to the under five timeout in the first quarter. Out of the break Nebraska hit two more threes before Iowa was able to string together some defensive stops and scores of their own. By the time we got to the end of the first quarter the Hawks had clawed back to within six points at 23-17. Clark scored just two points in the first quarter as she had early struggles shooting the three. In the second quarter Iowa continued to struggle shooting the long ball, but turned their attention to attacking the basket. There’s no doubt that the short recovery period played a factor in the freshness of legs for Iowa. The struggles of the Iowa team from distance looked to be directly correlated. Said Caitlin Clark postgame, “Not something we’ve ever really dealt with before. That’s kind of how it is. I mean, Nebraska probably felt it worse than us. They were playing their fourth game. We were playing our third. I think everybody was definitely feeling it in the fourth and in overtime too.” By the half Nebraska had stretched their lead to 46-35.

The Hawks found a little more fire when they came out of the locker room. Clark scored the first five points of the second half, which not only appeared to give Clark confidence but also brought the crowd back into the game. By the halfway mark of the third quarter Iowa was back within five, and cut the lead to one at 52-51 out of the timeout. At the 2:15 mark Clark laid in a deuce to give Iowa it’s first lead since early in the first quarter. Iowa outscored Nebraska 23-12 in the third quarter to even the score at 58-58 heading to the final frame. “I thought we fought hard tonight, and we had to. It’s not very often we have fought from behind. That was our biggest deficit at halftime. We just tried to reset at halftime I thought they came out, and that third quarter was really good, really good. Then we lost the lead, and they fought back again. I’m
incredibly proud of our group,” said head coach Lisa Bluder.

The fourth period opened with a lot of back forth lead changes. It gained its first interesting twist when Nebraska’s Kendall Coley picked up her fourth and fifth fouls to give her an early exit from the game. Iowa looked like it was just about of gas with about two minutes remaining. They trailed by five and time was running short. Instead, Kate Martin hit a trey from the left corner and Caitlin Clark laid one in with the right hand and we have a 29 second sprint to the finish with the score knotted. Turns out, it still wasn’t enough time. Nebraska missed a last second shot and it sent the game to overtime. In the extra period both teams took leads at different times. Iowa took an early five point lead before Nebraska was able to rally, hitting multiple three pointers to take the lead twice in bonus time. But it was the ice cold veins of Cailtin Clark who hit a go-ahead three that gave Iowa the lead for good, and two massive blocks by Gabbie Marshall that locked up the win for Iowa. Marshall stepped up to block a Logan Nissley three from the right wing that gave Iowa the ball with just under 30 seconds remaining that was the apparent dagger. Hannah Stuelke, who chipped in 25 points, nailed two free throws with :17 seconds remaining to ice the game. Said Bluder of the clutch free throw shooting, “You know what I’m so proud about with Hannah? She misses two, her only two of the tournament, steps back up and makes two.” Iowa outscored Nebraska 17-12 in overtime to take home the title 94-89. They overcame their largest halftime deficit of the season, having trailed by 11 at the break.

As the confetti fell and the fans came to life one more time, Caitlin Clark dribbled out the final five seconds of game clock and the Iowa Hawkeyes won their third straight Big Ten Women’s Basketball championship. Caitlin Clark was named the most outstanding player for the third consecutive year. Junior Sydney Affolter was also named to the all-Big Ten Tournament team. The Hawkeyes await word of their next opponent and also will likely find out they’re hosting first and second round games at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Selection Sunday is March 17th, live on ESPN at 6pm. They’ll enter the tournament with a 29-4 record, and potentially carry a number 1 seed. “I think we do deserve a No. 1 seed. If we don’t get it, oh, well. It’s okay. It’s okay. That’s life. We can’t control that. But I think it would just mean a lot to our program and how
far we’ve come to have that recognition,” Bluder said of the potential ranking. After graduating Monica Czinano and Mckenna Warnock many questioned what kind of firepower the Hawkeyes could muster. Bluder made it clear how she felt. “Everybody knew how much we lost last year, and everybody kept talking about how much we lost. We kept saying look how much we have. We have a lot. Hannah was ready to burst on the scene. You have the best player in America. Kate and Gabbie, God bless them, they come back for another year because they feel something special. Syd Affolter just kept getting better and better as the year went on. Kylie, a year after her surgery now. So, yeah, I think we just focused on what we have instead
of what we didn’t have.”