The Iowa women’s basketball team routed Rutgers, 111-57, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday.

The fifth-ranked Hawkeyes, coming off a Thursday loss to second-ranked Indiana, 87-78, were propelled by 29 team assists — junior guard Caitlin Clark led the way with 10. The unselfish basketball helped five Hawkeyes score in double digits.

Clark, who earned her fifth Big Ten Player of the Week nod this season and 17th of her career last week, led the team with three assists in the first quarter. She added five more in the second, with a half-court chest pass to senior forward McKenna Warnock for a layup and a transition bounce pass between two defenders to senior guard Molly Davis for a layup. 

The West Des Moines, Iowa, native had two more in the second half for a total of 10. Sophomore guard Sydney Affolter followed closely behind with six, and senior guard Kate Martin was next with a total of five.

“I love it when we share the ball,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “In practice, we always celebrate the assists because, to me, if you don’t have a great pass, you will not get a good shot. I love to see those types of numbers and am really proud of them.”

Iowa shot 63 percent from the field, 55 percent from deep, and 84 percent from the free-throw line. All players scored. 

“This is the balance, being able to go to your bench,” Bluder said. “For us, it’s really important.” 

Davis came off the bench for a season-high 17 points, including 13 in the first half, leading the team.

“I actually came into this game trying not to think about it too much after struggling the past few games, so [I was] trying to get out of my head a little bit,” Davis said. “Once I saw that first shot go in, I had a lot of confidence, and my teammates were finding me.”

Clark added her 13th double-double of the season with 15 points on top of her passing performance in 21 minutes, and fifth-year senior Monika Czinano had 14.

Hawkeyes empty the bench

The Iowa bench contributed with 61 total points. Freshman center Hannah Stuelke had 10, and freshman guard Taylor McCabe got hot in the third quarter for a career-high 12 points on four threes in 18 minutes.

“It was pretty fun; I can’t lie,” McCabe said. “My teammates and my coaches see that pretty frequently, so I don’t think anybody was too surprised, but it was a nice introduction to me as a shooter here.”

Halfway through the second quarter, Bluder began to shovel in the bench players. Sophomore center Addison O’Grady had six points and three rebounds.

Iowa went into the fourth with a 97-42 lead, and Bluder did not play any starters in the quarter. The bench maintained the lead throughout the final minutes to a comfortable win.

“It’s not really that we won the game; it’s how we won the game,” Bluder said. “You want to use these games to get better for the future. You want to get these to build your confidence back, certainly, but also to execute because you can come out here, play sloppily, and maybe still win. We didn’t do that.”

Iowa maintains stout defense

The Hawkeyes forced 15 Rutgers turnovers — leading to 23 points — and secured 33 defensive rebounds.

“I think it had to do a lot with our defense,” Davis said. “We were getting stops on the defensive end and were able to run in transition. You know how good we are in transition.”

Stuelke hypes up crowd with free-throw makes

After shooting 0-for-8 from the free-throw line against Indiana, freshman forward Hannah Stuelke missed her first two Sunday but bounced back to make two in a row to applause from Hawkeye fans.

“She’s not an 80 percent free throw shooter, but there’s no reason she can’t be a 70,” Bluder said. “She works at it, she will continue to work at it, and we will get there.”

Up next

The Hawkeyes return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday for a 6:30 p.m. contest with the Wisconsin Badgers.

In their last meeting Dec. 4, Iowa defeated the Badgers, 102-71. Five Hawkeyes scored in double digits.

The Hawkeyes now sit at 12-2 in the Big Ten and 20-5 overall, while the Badgers are 3-11 in the Big Ten and 8-18 overall.