Iowa
Caitlin Clark and her Iowa teammates give Hoosiers a bad case of senioritis
IOWA CITY — Calling Caitlin Clark sensational is from the handbook of the Department of Redundancy Department.
Her name symbolizes basketball excellence, and America has known it for a while now. Recently, an Uber driver in Orlando asked his Iowan passengers where they were from, than proceeded to tell them why Clark is so good.
Former Iowa men’s assistant basketball coach Kirk Speraw said Saturday that Clark wasn’t a once-in-a-generation player, but a once-in-two-generations players, comparing her skills and visions and fearlessness to past greats Pete Maravich and Ernie DiGregorio.
But no woman is an island. Without a crew of skilled, tough and intuitive players around her, Clark is scoring a lot of points without winning much of consequence, and she’d be the first to tell you as much.
Senior moments filled Carver-Hawkeye Arena Saturday night along with the amazingly large crowd that shrugged off the elements. Those fans simply had to be here to see who won between Indiana and Iowa teams that came in 5-0 in the Big Ten, 11 months after it took a last-second Clark 3-pointer to beat the Hoosiers.
Senior moments? Oh yeah. That’s seniors as in fourth-year player Clark, fifth-years Gabbie Marshall and Molly Davis, and sixth-year Kate Martin.
Davis had her Iowa-high of 18 points in this 84-57 Hawkeyes romp. She played superb defense against the Hoosiers’ Sara Scalia despite spotting her 4 inches.
Marshall rained in four 3-pointers after Iowa got off to a woeful start shooting from deep. Martin had a career-high 12 rebounds.
Clark seemed content to walk the ball down the court after an Iowa rebound with six minutes left and the game in hand, but saw Martin sprinting down the court. Clark hit Martin in stride, and there were two more points.
“They all just kind of understand,” Clark said. “I don’t always have to say what I want when I’m on the court. I think they can read my eyes pretty well.”
Davis had her best game as a Hawkeye since transferring from Central Michigan before last season. She had seven points, an assist and a steal in a second-quarter span of 1:50, with Clark on the bench with two fouls.
Clark was the straw that stirred this rout with 30 points and 11 assists, but Davis didn’t let the Hawkeyes do anything but gain ground during Clark’s brief absence.
It was a long way from playing her home finale at Central Michigan two years ago before 1,318 fans on a team that went 4-25 that season. The previous season, though, ended with CMU losing to Iowa in a first-round NCAA tournament game. Davis had 18 points and five steals, and left a good impression.
“She lit us up,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said.
Here Davis was Saturday, playing before 15,000 or so crazy-loud fans and a national, prime-time television audience. And she played so well.
“It kind of chokes me up a little bit thinking about it,” Davis said. “It’s really cool Coach Bluder gave me the opportunity to play at a place like this.”
“Molly, she had a couple really nice backdoor cuts tonight when I was able to hit her,” said Clark, “and that’s just a high basketball IQ play. Molly’s that type of player.”
Martin and Marshall, what don’t they know by now? How often do you see them get open for their shots? A lot. But you don’t see it until Clark sees it a second before you.
“They know what’s going to happen and what’s going on,” said Clark.
“It’s just kind of a comforting thing to be out there on the floor with three other people that really have your back and really know what your mind is thinking even if you don’t have to say it.”
In reality, this game ended late in the third quarter. Clark made one of her beak bombs, a 3-pointer from the Tiger Hawk logo. Then she stole the ball and hit a streaking Davis, who made an athletic lay-in with six seconds left.
It went from 60-48 to 65-48, the decibel count in the arena broke the needle, and No. 3 Iowa was soon to be 17-1.
“I think the sky’s the limit,” Bluder said. “Right now I’m just worried about beating Wisconsin on Tuesday. though. That’s my only concern right now.”
It’s supposed to be really cold again Tuesday night in Iowa City. Hawkeye fans will deal with it much better than the Badgers will handle their opponents.
Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com
IOWA CITY, Iowa — IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg scored 16 points apiece, and Aday Mara had two tiebreaking shots in the final 1:22 as No. 3 Michigan defeated Iowa 71-68 on Thursday night.
The Wolverines (28-2, 18-1 Big Ten) were held 18 points below their season scoring average, but managed to hold off the Hawkeyes (20-10, 10-9) in the closing seconds.
Iowa went on an 11-1 run to tie the game at 64 with 1:56 to play before Mara banked in a shot before the shot clock expired, putting Michigan in front again. After Iowa’s Cam Manyawu scored inside to tie the game at 66, Mara, who finished with 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, scored off a lob with 43 seconds left to put the Wolverines ahead to stay.
Iowa had chances to tie the game on back-to-back possessions, but missed three shots on one of the possessions and lost the ball on another after a turnover by Tavion Banks with seven seconds left.
The Hawkeyes had a final chance to tie the game after Lendeborg made two free throws with four seconds remaining, but Bennett Stirtz’s 3-pointer try was long.
Elliot Cadeau added 11 points for the Wolverines, the Big Ten regular-season champions.
Stirtz led Iowa with 21 points. Manyawu had 14.
Michigan had a 38-25 rebounding edge on the Hawkeyes.
The game was tied at 30 at halftime. Michigan shot 50% from the field, but committed 12 turnovers that Iowa turned into 16 points.
The Hawkeyes were 11 of 31 from the field, with Stirtz especially struggling to make shots. Stirtz, Iowa’s leading scorer this season, made just one of his first nine shots, then hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a 27-second span to give Iowa a 30-28 lead.
Up next
Michigan: Hosts No. 8 Michigan State on Sunday.
Iowa: At No. 9 Nebraska on Sunday.
Wrestling-Women
March 5, 2026
Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship
March 5, 2026
Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.
5 key issues the Iowa Legislature faces in the 2026 session
Eminent domain, property taxes and DOGE cuts are all on the table for legislators this session.
Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.
House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.
Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.
“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”
Here’s what to know about the bill.
What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?
Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.
That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.
All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.
Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.
Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.
And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.
If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.
Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.
Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.
“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”
Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.
“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”
Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says
A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.
- FY 2027: $33 million
- FY 2028: $66 million
- FY 2029: $99 million
- FY 2030: $132 million
- FY 2031: $164.9 million
The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.
“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”
The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.
As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.
The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.
But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.
“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”
Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”
“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”
Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law
The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”
Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.
Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.
It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.
“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”
Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”
“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.
Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”
And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”
“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”
House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.
That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.
Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings
Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.
The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:
- The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
- The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
- The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
- The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
- The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
- The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
- The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket
The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.
The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.
And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.
All Aboard the 67, San Francisco’s Most Delayed Bus | KQED
We don’t know why Dallas elected Amber Givens for DA either
Firefight at NW Miami-Dade warehouse enters 2nd day: ‘It burned it all up’
Poor Clares’ monastery a case study in why Boston is short on housing – The Boston Globe
Five takeaways from Denver’s restaurant report
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
DOJ continues Biden autopen probe despite former president unlikely to face charges
Fact check: Did French border guards mock influencers returning from Dubai amid Iran war?
Iran’s fight for survival / The widening war / Trump’s nebulous goals : Sources & Methods
Map: 4.9-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Louisiana
Paxton vows he’s ‘staying in this race’ even if Trump backs Cornyn in Texas GOP clash
-
World1 week agoExclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from US chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say
-
Wisconsin4 days agoSetting sail on iceboats across a frozen lake in Wisconsin
-
Massachusetts1 week agoMother and daughter injured in Taunton house explosion
-
Massachusetts3 days agoMassachusetts man awaits word from family in Iran after attacks
-
Maryland5 days agoAM showers Sunday in Maryland
-
Florida5 days agoFlorida man rescued after being stuck in shoulder-deep mud for days
-
Denver, CO1 week ago10 acres charred, 5 injured in Thornton grass fire, evacuation orders lifted
-
Oregon7 days ago2026 OSAA Oregon Wrestling State Championship Results And Brackets – FloWrestling