Iowa women’s basketball sophomore point guard Caitlin Clark stood at the end of the Carver-Hawkeye Arena tunnel on Sunday night as young fans lined up to meet her.

The 6-foot guard laughed as she signed autographs and took pictures, unfazed to her recent performance on the hardwood.

In the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 93-83 victory over Nebraska on Sunday, Clark collected the fourth triple-double of her career and third of the 2021-22 season. The Hawkeyes are now 10-4 on the season and 4-1 in Big Ten play.

With 31 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists, Clark became one of three Big Ten women’s basketball players to record three triple-doubles in one season — and the Hawkeyes have only played 14 games.

Iowa’s Samantha Logic achieved the feat in the 2014-15 season and Indiana’s Grace Berger did it again in 2020-21.

Clark is now the only active Division I women’s basketball player with four career triple-doubles.

Clark’s triple-doubles have become the norm for the Hawkeye women’s basketball team, as the triumph was scarcely mentioned in Iowa’s postgame press conference.

“Caitlin getting her fourth [career] triple-double, obviously that’s pretty special,” head coach Lisa Bluder said postgame.

The sophomore also posted two blocks and four steals in 37 minutes on the floor.

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The Hawkeyes completed the season sweep against the Huskers on Sunday. The two programs played twice in seven days, with the Hawkeyes taking the victory in Lincoln and Iowa City.

Iowa was down, 30-14, after the first quarter. But the Hawkeyes posted a 16-point comeback — the largest of the 2021-22 season — for their third straight win and sixth consecutive victory over Nebraska.

“I don’t feel like there was any, like, panic mode or anything like that,” Bluder said of the first quarter deficit. “We just kind of said, ‘We’ve got to defend them better. We’ve got to get out and cover threes better.’ I mean, it wasn’t anything that we really adjusted differently from the first quarter to the second quarter.”

“The difference-maker”

The Hawkeyes know the importance of free throws. Iowa tallied 31 points from the line on Sunday night from 34 trips to the charity stripe.

But Iowa’s 91.2 percent shooting from the free throw line on Sunday night wasn’t sheer luck — it comes from constant practice on the Carver-Hawkeye Arena floor.

“We harp on free throws every single day in practice,” Clark said. “They’re called free throws. They’re free. That’s a free point. So, I think they are pretty important and they win you basketball games. It’s something we do every single day in practice, and we’re all pretty much over 90 percent [shooting] every day.”

Clark drew 10 fouls herself on Sunday night, earning 12 trips to the line. Clark converted all 12 of her shots. In the 2021-22 season, Clark is shooting 91 percent from the line.

“I use my body pretty well and then I’m finishing around the basket,” Clark said of her ability to draw fouls. “I think that’s something I’ve definitely learned over the past year and more. I mean, you face good defenders and you want to keep the ball away from them. You kinda have to use your body, such as your arm, and I think I’m good at creating contact.”

Nebraska committed 28 total fouls on Sunday while earning just eight trips to the line. Nebraska head coach Amy Williams said postgame that Iowa “did a good job getting themselves to the free throw line.”

“I thought [Iowa was] pretty aggressive and were trying to go at the basket,” Williams said. “And they were rewarded with that aggressive mentality.”

Czinano, Clark lead all scorers

Clark and senior center Monika Czinano dropped 31 points apiece on Sunday night. The pair accounted for 65.5 percent of the Hawkeyes’ total points.

Czinano went 11-of-17 from the field and 11-12 from the free throw line, while Clark dropped in 9-of-22 from the field.

Postgame, Czinano credited her teammates for the 31 point effort.

“I think being a post player, I try to be as consistent as possible,” Czinano said. “I think the passes my guards get me are phenomenal. They think one pass ahead all the time. They do a great job of finding me. But I think my role on this team is to be as consistent as I can be.”

Up next

The Hawkeyes will travel to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday at 7 p.m.