No. 12 Iowa women’s basketball continued its run of positive results by dismembering Penn State, 108-67, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.

The Hawkeyes forced 20 turnovers, drew 30 fouls, and shot 55 percent from the floor while holding Penn State to a meager 36.7 percent from the field.

Iowa came into Saturday’s game riding high, following its first win in Ann Arbor since 2014 on Jan. 7 and a blowout win against Northwestern on Wednesday.

“This is 12 quarters in a row that we’ve played really good basketball,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “And I thought in the first quarter, we just took control immediately.”

The game got out of hand right at the start, as Iowa led by as many as 24 points before the end of the first quarter and shot 15-for-20 in the first 10 minutes.

Junior guard Caitlin Clark reached her usual milestone quota, hitting her 262nd career 3-pointer to pass Lindsey Meder for second place on Iowa’s career 3-point field goals list. Then, she became the 13th Big Ten player to record 600 career assists shortly thereafter.

Big Picture

Saturday’s win is Iowa’s seventh consecutive against Penn State, moving the Hawkeyes to 6-1 in the conference.

Iowa had five players in double figures: Clark with 27, fifth-year senior center Monika Czinano with 20, senior McKenna Warnock with 16, sophomore Sydney Affolter with 12, and freshman Hannah Stuelke with 11.

“Our depth is coming through now,” Bluder said.

Affolter sets a new career high

Minutes haven’t always been easy to come by for Affolter this season. But when she got 14 minutes on Saturday, she showed up.

The sophomore shot 5-for-6 from the field to put up a career-high 12 points as well as two assists. 

“I think we just focus on being a spark off the bench,” Affolter said. “We know we need to play hard when we go and give our starters a break.”

Epitome of efficiency

When Stuelke was in the game on Saturday, she made the most of her time. In just seven minutes, the freshman put up 11 points, grabbed three rebounds, and committed four fouls.

And it’s not the first time Stuelke has done a lot with little time. On Dec. 29, the Cedar Rapids native grabbed a double-double with 11 points and 10 assists in just 10 minutes.

In the last three games, Stuelke has scored 37 points in 32 minutes.

Clark gets extra minutes

Clark had 26 points and eight assists in the first three quarters. With the Hawkeyes leading by 40, it looked like the junior would spend the fourth quarter on the bench while her substitute teammates hashed it out.

But the junior stayed in and didn’t come out until 3:42 remained in the game.

As the clock winded down, the reason for Clark’s continued presence became apparent — she was one assist away from a double-double.

Similarly, Bluder left Clark in Wednesday’s blowout against Northwestern until one minute remained, hoping Clark would pick up her eighth career triple-double. The junior came up one rebound short.

Martin comes out with injury

Senior Kate Martin came out of the game one minute into the fourth quarter and could be seen on the bench getting her knee looked at.

Bluder said she was unsure of Martin’s condition, but Clark and Warnock mentioned Martin said she’d be fine.

Marshall shuts down Marisa

Makenna Marisa came into the game on Saturday averaging 18.4 points, but senior guard Gabbie Marshall held her to five with two assists.

Marisa shot 2-for-13 from the field, missed all four 3-point attempts, and committed a turnover.

“Gabbie really got it started for us on the defensive end,” Clark said. “[Penn State’s] offense and their team runs through her [Marisa], so when you can shut her down, it kind of makes life pretty hard, and that’s exactly what Gabbie did.”

Up next

Iowa will hit the road, heading to East Lansing, Michigan, to take on Michigan State. The Hawkeyes and the Spartans will tip off on Wednesday at 6 p.m.