No. 9 Iowa women’s basketball takes down Samford

The Hawkeyes held the Bulldogs to a 32.8 shooting percentage in their 91-54 victory.

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Grace Smith

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark shoots outside the three-point line during an exhibition women’s basketball game between Iowa and Truman State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City on Thursday, Nov. 4, 2021. The Hawkeyes defeated the Bulldogs 102-32. Clark shot 4-8 from outside the arc.

Chloe Peterson, Assistant Sports Editor


The Iowa women’s basketball team took down Samford University, 91-54, Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The No. 9 Hawkeyes are now 2-0 on the season with wins over New Hampshire and Samford.

Sophomore point guard Caitlin Clark tallied 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting, along with four rebounds and four assists.

The Hawkeyes were efficient from the field with a 59.7 percent shooting percentage. Junior guard Kate Martin and freshman guard Sydney Affolter each went 3-for-3 from the field for six points.

The Hawkeyes registered 10 assists in the first quarter and finished the night with 24. Martin led the charge, racking up five assists.

“We love passing the ball for the high percentage shot,” head coach Lisa Bluder said postgame. ”We shot 60 percent… that’s amazing. You don’t do that unless you pass the ball really well for high percentage shots and so they buy in. Assists lead to high field goal percentage.”

Overall, the Hawkeyes saw high production from their bench players. Iowa registered 32 bench points against Samford, and no Hawkeye starter played more than 25 minutes.

All 11 players on Iowa’s roster tallied a point, rebound, or assist on Thursday night. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Bulldogs, 37-30.

“There’s a reason that you schedule these types of games,” Bluder said. “You want to be able to play on your home court, but you also want to give everybody an opportunity to get in. And I’ve scheduled some games like this and sometimes, and we haven’t been able to get people in until the last five, six minutes. But now we’re getting them in the first quarter. We’re getting everybody involved in the first quarter and I think that’s terrific. And it shows you the quality of our bench.”

BIG PICTURE

The Hawkeyes continued their revamp of the defense on Thursday night, as they held the Bulldogs to 54 points on 19-of-58 shooting — a 32.8 shooting percentage.

Iowa has held both of its opponents to 55 points or less to start the season. The Hawkeyes also forced 24 turnovers from the Bulldogs, and scored 31 points off those turnovers.

“I thought especially in that first half we had really good defensive intensity,” Clark said. “\And then, going into the second half we kind of tried a few different things on defense, kind of switching up from our player man-to-man… I thought we did defend them pretty well, overall.”

CZINANO HEATS UP

Senior center Monika Czinano posted her first 20-point game of the season on Thursday night.

Czinano registered 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting and contributed three rebounds in just 18 minutes on the floor. The center also went 4-of-5 from the 3-point line.

“I think they were just finding me,” Czinano said. “I was just running, head down, trying to post up, and they were having really good passes inside. And I was lucky enough to convert them. So, it was good. I thought the flow started really good right off the jump.”

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Sunday for their first of three in-state matchups. The Hawkeyes will take on the University of Northern Iowa at 2 p.m.

The last time the Hawkeyes and the Panthers met in Cedar Falls in 2019, UNI won, 88-66.

“I’m excited to go back with this new team and this new defensive philosophy,” Czinano said. “Really go out there and show them what we can do and show how good we are.”