The No. 4 Iowa women’s basketball team extended its record to 12-1 with a 98-69 win over Loyola-Chicago inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena to close this season’s non-conference play on Thursday night.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder switched up her starting lineup for the contest, opting for forward Hannah Stuelke and guard Sydney Affolter in place of center Sharon Goodman and guard Gabbie Marshall, the latter of which was out with an illness.
Affolter played a big piece in the win as she filled the absence of the scrappy Marshall, tonight diving for loose balls and collecting an impressive and hard-earned six offensive rebounds.
Caitlin Clark stole the show once again, though, notching a triple-double of 35 points on 12-of-21 from the field and adding 17 rebounds and 10 assists to the performance.
But the wider-spread scoring effort Bluder has been looking for from her Hawkeyes shined through tonight, Stuelke scoring 20 points before guard Kate Martin’s 19 and Affolter’s 10.
Still, the turnover bug is still plaguing the Hawkeyes after 19 turnovers against Cleveland State last weekend, the Black and Gold tonight giving up 17 on 18 assists.
A Clark three and subsequent cross-court pass to Stuelke for a layup helped the Hawkeyes pull away from the Ramblers in the first, Loyola-Chicago having kept the contest close around 10 points each for the first half of the quarter.
But the Ramblers found an answer, moving the ball nicely in the halfcourt and driving toward the rim to force the defense to collapse before kicking to open shooters for open looks. So the Hawkeyes led by just two, 21-19, moving into the second.
Iowa continued to push the pace in transition in that second quarter, but active hands from Loyola-Chicago forced 10 first-half Hawkeye turnovers that ultimately kept the Ramblers in the game — and leading for the majority of the period.
But a charge taken by Iowa guard Kylie Feuerbach finally swayed the momentum the other way, the Hawkeyes taking a 36-35 lead with a strong steal and quick reverse layup from Clark.
Still, three Ramblers threes kept Loyola-Chicago either ahead or in the mix for the rest of the half, the Ramblers drilling a whopping eight deep-balls on 19 attempts to the Hawkeyes’ four of 11.
Persistent and pulling away
With a 51-46 lead to begin the second half, the Hawkeyes and Ramblers quickly went back and forth in exchanging buckets — until Clark took over.
The West Des Moines local nailed an open three from the right, finished an easy layup for two, and gave a gorgeous behind-the-back bounce pass to Stuelke for a layup that was missed amid a foul.
And the Ramblers cooled in the third quarter, scoring just 15 points to the Hawkeyes’ 28 as Iowa found the key to success in its persistent offensive attack — and a deep, off-balanced Clark three — to take a 79-61 lead into the fourth quarter.
That fourth period saw the leading Hawkeye scorers only rack up more points as reserve center Addison O’Grady and forward Jada Gyamfi, and first-year guard Kennise Johnson soon after, saw their first minutes of the night.
And with Clark’s triple-double coming late in the final quarter on an assist to Gyamfi, the Hawkeyes closed the door on the Ramblers, won comfortably, and extended their record to 12-1.
Up next
The Hawkeyes will have just over a week off for the holidays before returning to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Dec. 30 to host Minnesota in a return to the Big Ten slate for the remainder of the regular season.
The Golden Gophers are an impressive 11-1 overall this season, last beating Lindenwood, 100-45, with their only loss coming to No. 17 UConn early in the season.