Clark, Hawkeyes cruise by Holy Cross
IOWA CITY — For all the hype No. 1 seeds pile up on Selection Sunday, each one hopes to navigate through opening night quietly with no NCAA Tournament drama. Get in, get out — and don’t make a scene.
Aside from some minor speed bumps, Iowa women’s basketball accomplished just that Saturday afternoon on its home turf.
The top-seeded Hawkeyes began this highly anticipated March Madness run with a 91-65 win over No. 16 seed Holy Cross inside a jam-packed CarverHawkeye Arena. Iowa advances to Monday’s second-round game against West Virginia at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
“They gave us a good battle. They tested us, made us a little frustrated at times,” said superstar Caitlin Clark, who finished with a game-high 27 points to go with 10 assists and eight rebounds. “I don’t think they had any starry eyes or anything.
“It was fun to get out there and play and brush off a little rust. Now we have another one to prepare for. All you care about is if you win when that final buzzer goes off.”
No serious upset energy ever entered the building, more so just loose irritation when mild turbulence unfolded. Put that No. 1 by your name, and everyone envisions 40 minutes on cruise control. Often, that isn’t an unrealistic expectation. But, more than anything, the Hawkeyes needing a second to get rolling merely feels like the product of having nearly two weeks off. A matchup with plenty of margin for error creates an acceptable transition in the end.
Despite not having her best shooting afternoon by her own absurd standards, Clark managed to push through the frustration. Her first field goal didn’t fall until 22 seconds remained in the opening quarter, her first trey not splashing through until 3:27 left in the second. Annoyance was still plastered on her face when she clocked out with just under five minutes left.
Assistance was everywhere, though, to punctuate the win. Kate Martin delivered yet another double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Gabbie Marshall remained hot with 11 points on three treys. And Addi O’Grady, filling in for an under-the-weather Hannah Stuelke in the second half, produced her highest-scoring game of the season (14 points).
“It’s really important for our bench players to still be mentally locked in,” Marshall said. “Even if you don’t start the game, it doesn’t really matter who starts the game. Anyone can come in and give us those minutes that we need.”
That doesn’t mean there weren’t frustrating moments for these players who are hoping to end this women’s basketball season at the Final Four in Cleveland. One particularly painful stretch arrived early in the second quarter.
Clark caught a inadvertent Bronagh Power-Cassidy elbow to the face while the Holy Cross player tried to break through traffic, which was then upgraded to an intentional foul. Shortly after, Martin’s head bounced hard off the floor on a stumbling layup attempt and hushed Carver-Hawkeye Arena in a hurry. Both Hawkeyes ended up just fine and carried on their ways, unwilling to turn a couple of tough moments into extended problems.
“I think there was definitely knocking off some rust there,” Martin said. “They shot the ball well, and then in the second quarter, we responded really well. Gabbie starting denying their best player. They only scored nine points in the second quarter. I thought that was really good, and the way we responded was really good.”
The Hawkeyes eventually broke free midway through the second quarter and constructed a double-digit cushion that never vanished. A 16-6 surge to end the half handed Iowa a 48-30 intermission lead that ballooned to 20-plus midway through the third. Even with Stuelke out for the second half with migraines, Iowa had no issues turning this into the rout it was supposed to be.
All in all, a respectable afternoon for the Hawkeyes when adjusted for the elite standard they’ve set. More business is up ahead.
“We just really stuck together,” guard Sydney Affolter said. “We had some of our shots not fall that usually fall ... in the first quarter. We believe in every single person on the team.”