Clark, last year’s upset in mind, propels Iowa win

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark mentioned it ran by means of her thoughts that Iowa had been right here earlier than.

Nearly a yr in the past to the day, the No. 2-seeded Hawkeyes had been upset at dwelling by a 10-seed within the girls’s NCAA event.

On Sunday, once more earlier than a sold-out crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Area, Iowa was in the identical spot: No. 2 vs. No. 10, shut recreation late. With a two-point lead and the ball in her palms with lower than a minute left, Clark had one objective.

“I wasn’t going to allow us to lose once more,” Clark mentioned. “I knew I may go get us a bucket. Undoubtedly, there’s stress … however you would not need it every other method.”

Clark scored, and the Hawkeyes held on for a 74-66 win over Georgia, sending Iowa to the Candy 16 within the Seattle 4 Regional, the place the Hawkeyes will face the winner of Monday’s matchup between Duke and Colorado.

It is going to be the second Candy 16 look for Clark; the Hawkeyes additionally obtained that far her freshman season in 2021, after they misplaced to UConn.

Final yr, Tenth-seeded Creighton beat Iowa 64-62 within the second spherical en path to the Elite Eight. That disappointment was a subject the Hawkeyes did not keep away from addressing on Sunday. Clark recalled that she missed a contested layup with 8 seconds left in that recreation, one that might have given Iowa a one-point lead.

In opposition to a troublesome Georgia protection on Sunday, she completed with 22 factors and 12 assists, changing into the one girls’s participant to have back-to-back NCAA event video games of at the very least 20 factors and 10 assists, based on ESPN Stats & Data analysis.

Throughout one stretch on Sunday, Clark scored or assisted on 27 consecutive factors. She has scored or assisted on 58% of her workforce’s factors within the Hawkeyes’ two event wins up to now.

Her final basket got here as she dribbled day without work the clock then obtained previous her defender for a pull-up soar shot with 47 seconds left. It put Iowa up 70-66.

Clark closed out her scoring on 4 free throws: Georgia was referred to as for an intentional foul when Gabbie Marshall was hit within the face (Clark took the foul photographs), and Clark then was shoved to the ground for 2 extra free throws.

Clark principally simply shrugged off the late-game chippy performs; she mentioned she is used to that by now and does not let it rattle her. Iowa did not have reserve publish participant Hannah Stuelke — she injured her ankle within the last minutes of Saturday’s follow — and that made the Hawkeyes all of the extra depending on their very skilled beginning 5.

“I wasn’t going to allow us to lose once more. I knew I may go get us a bucket. Undoubtedly, there’s stress … however you would not need it every other method.”

Caitlin Clark

These gamers accounted for all of Iowa’s factors: together with Clark’s 22, Monika Czinano had 20 factors, Marshall 15, McKenna Warnock 14 and Kate Martin three.

Clark, who leads Division I in assists per recreation, is now averaging 8.6, together with 26.8 factors. She has made 115 3-pointers.

“Unbelievable passer. Her imaginative and prescient is so unimaginable. She will sit right here and recite performs,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder mentioned of Clark. “She will see issues unfolding. It is an actual present. She is a fantastic passer. It isn’t only one or two video games; it’s on a regular basis.”

Requested about her final-minute basket, Clark described it step-by-step and mentioned she was glad she obtained the possibility to take it.

“I am by no means going to shrink back from that,” Clark mentioned. “Even when the shot does not go down, I wish to be the one having the ball in my palms. I do know I can do it for this workforce.”