Clark downs Drake in homecoming game
The freshman point guard posted her first double-double in her second career game.
Caitlin Clark runs the ball down the court during the Iowa Hawkeyes Women’s Basketball season opener again Northern Iowa on Nov. 25, 2020. The Hawkeyes defeated Northern Iowa 96-81.
December 2, 2020
For the second-straight game, freshman Caitlin Clark shined. This time, the point guard put up 30 points to help the Hawkeyes advance to 2-0 on the season with a 103-97 win over Drake.
The Hawkeyes’ matchup with the Bulldogs proved to be a bit of a homecoming game for Clark. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native grew up going to Drake women’s basketball games with her family and knew the Knapp Center well before she even stepped foot in it wearing the Black and Gold uniform Wednesday night.
As an added bonus on top of her familiarity with Drake women’s basketball and the Knapp Center, many of Clark’s biggest fans attended the game in-person.
“I think I had 13 people, which was like almost half our ticket allotment that we got,” Clark said. “I had a couple friends, I had a lot of family, a couple coaches here, so it was awesome having them here and I’m just glad we got the win for them for sure.”
According to Clark, each player is only allotted two tickets to dole out. So, she bummed tickets off of all but three of her teammates to accommodate the patrons that wanted to watch her play Wednesday.
“Shoutout to my teammates, they came in clutch,” Clark said.
In the second game of her collegiate career, Clark led the team with 35 minutes played. To go with her dazzling 30 points, Clark also dished out 13 assists for a double-double.
“I’m kind of a score-first point guard, you could say,” Clark said. “But at the same time, I can pass the ball, and I think people will see that more down the stretch.”
Despite Clark’s scorching hot start to the season, Hawkeye head coach Lisa Bluder doesn’t want Iowa women’s basketball to become ‘The Caitlin Clark Show.’
“Caitlin is a special player, but we do need to have other people involved in the game because that makes her so much more dangerous,” Bluder said. “And I think we saw that in the second half when she had 13 assists. But I don’t want to get to the Michael Jordan effect where everyone sits around and watches her, and they’re not being involved in the offense.”
Clark and the Hawkeyes played from behind for most of the game in Des Moines, but they led when it mattered. With just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Iowa took the lead for the first time since the opening period and didn’t look back.
“I think always in the first half, we’re a little quick to take shots,” sophomore Gabbie Marshall said. “We just get the nerves, and the energy just going. In the second half we just tried to slow down and really pick apart the defense because they played a matchup zone. In the first half, we had to get used to it, but in the second we could actually pick it apart.”
Iowa’s scoring really picked up in the fourth quarter. The Hawkeyes hung 38 points on the Bulldogs in the period, and Clark didn’t put the ball through the iron once.
Postgame, Clark was thankful her teammates found ways to score late in the game as she was unsure whether or not she would’ve kept pouring in shots at the rate she was early in the game. Clark believes her teammates’ efforts won the game, not solely her’s.
Aside from Clark, two other Hawkeyes finished the game in double figures. Center Monika Czinano had 27 points and sophomore forward McKenna Warnock posted 20.
Iowa will return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena Saturday at 2 p.m. for its Big Ten-opener against Wisconsin.
