The No. 5 Iowa women’s basketball team routed Florida Gulf Coast, 100-62, in the second round of the Gulf Coast Showcase at Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida, on Saturday night — marking Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder’s 500th win at the helm of the program.

The Hawkeyes rolled past the Purdue-Fort Wayne Mastodons, 98-59, in the first round yesterday as they led for much of the game and did not look back. Caitlin Clark scored 29 points in a red-hot shooting night in that contest as forwards Hannah Stuelke and Sharon Goodman aided the scoring effort and as guard Gabbie Marshall became the first player in program history to collect 200+ threes and 200+ steals in a career.

Stuelke did not play in tonight’s contest, having tweaked her ankle and walked off of the court without assistance in last night’s game, so Goodman started in her stead as the primary post target for the Hawkeyes.

The FGCU Eagles, located in Fort Myers and needing to travel just 10 minutes south to participate in the eight-team tournament, beat Delaware, 83-68, in their respective first-round game yesterday. But their proximity to the event did not necessarily provide home court advantage with plenty of Iowa fans in attendance and cheering loudly.

The Iowa offensive output tonight was spread even wider across the team, this time fueled primarily by the guards’ blazing-hot shooting from deep — for the most three-pointers made by the team in one game in program history:

• Clark scored 21 points on 7-of-14 from the field and 4-of-8 from three
• Guard Taylor McCabe scored 18 points on 6-of-7 from three off of the bench
• Guard Sydney Affolter scored 12 points on a perfect 4-of-4 from the field off of the bench
• Marshall scored 12 points on 4-of-5 from three — all in the second half
• Guard Kate Martin scored 11 points on 5-of-10 from the field

It was a game of fast pace and turnovers early on, the Eagles and Hawkeyes giving up nine and eight turnovers and scoring five and eleven points off of each others’ turnovers, respectively, in the first quarter.

The Hawkeyes made a concerted effort on rebounds, though, and hot Iowa shooting from the outside — Clark, Affolter, and Martin joining guard Kylie Feuerbach in drilling from deep in the first — helped the Black and Gold pull away as the Eagles struggled to score on the other end.

In fact, Iowa ended the last five minutes of the first quarter on a 17-3 run to lead, 26-8, going into the second as FGCU’s Dolly Cairns scored each of those eight first-quarter Eagles points.

And Martin showed how comfortably she’s meshing into a supporting scoring role behind Clark for the Hawkeyes, staying strong and even crafty around the paint and working to get open down low for her teammates to find her — but not faltering in confidence when the outside shot is open.

Meanwhile, Affolter gave a massive spark off of the bench for Iowa, connecting on two threes and an and-one transition layup for nine first-half points, not missing a single shot across the board in 10 minutes of play.

The Iowa out-rebounding effort continued throughout the second quarter with the Hawkeyes ultimately snagging 24 to the Eagles’ nine in the half, effectively shutting the latter down to just 11 second-quarter points and bringing Iowa to a 55-19 lead at halftime.

Everybody eats

As Marshall was the only Hawkeye to touch the floor yet not score in the first half, she quickly made up for it in the third quarter as she drilled a quick-hitting three to open the half and another one just two minutes later. And McCabe nailed her second three of the game as well.

But FGCU opened the first three minutes of the second half leading the Hawkeyes, 11-10 — which was slowed halfway through the third quarter with an 8-0 Iowa run that was boosted by yet another pair of Affolter and Feuerbach threes.

So although FGCU won the third quarter on 23 points to Iowa’s 21, reserves Jada Gyamfi and AJ Ediger as well as true freshman guard Kennise Johnson saw a handful of minutes to wrap up play before heading into the fourth.

The Hawkeye starters returned to the court to open the fourth quarter, though, Marshall nailing her third and fourth threes of the night on four attempts before finally missing one from the left corner.

Clark’s 21st point of the night came on a three-point attempt just before the halfway mark of the quarter, sealing the deal on her minutes for the evening and bringing the Hawkeye reserves back on to close the game.

McCabe notched her 15th point of the game on back-to-back-to-back connections from deep, hitting another one with under two minutes left to smash her prior career-high before solidifying the Iowa win, 100-62.

Up next

The Hawkeyes will get a rematch with No. 16 Kansas State in the championship game tomorrow night, the Wildcats handing the Hawkeyes their first loss of the season, 65-58, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Nov. 16.

Kansas State bested No. 18 North Carolina, 63-56, in the other second-round matchup today behind a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds from 6-foot-6 center Ayoka Lee and aided by 16 points from guard Serena Sundell and 15 from forward Gisela Sanchez off of the bench.