No. 3 Iowa women’s basketball sneaks by Maryland behind 38 from Caitlin Clark

The No. 3 Iowa women’s basketball team snuck by the Maryland Terrapins, 93-85, in an away bout inside the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland, on Saturday night.

The game looked like yet another Hawkeye blowout by halftime, yet the Terrapins mounted a massive comeback in the third and fourth to give the Black and Gold a test. Still, Maryland could not find an answer to the multi-faceted offensive threat Caitlin Clark poses to opponents, scoring 38 points on 13-of-29 from the field and 7-of-17 from deep in addition to her 12 assists and six rebounds.

Guard Molly Davis had a game, pouring in 17 points on an efficient 7-of-11 from the field and 3-of-5 from three — as did fellow guard Kate Martin, scoring 15 points with 10 boards.

That rebounding battle was the X-factor after the Hawkeyes struggled to board in the last handful of games, tonight snagging 48 total as well as 17 offensive.

A handful of costly turnovers early gave the Terrapins an 11-3 lead three minutes into the game, and physical play on Clark kept her relatively subdued, so the Des Moines local’s supporting cast stepped in to bring that lead to just three.

The Hawkeyes had so many looks down low in the first quarter but just could not convert upon their guards’ penetrations — so the game leapt into a fast-paced shootout.

Iowa resorted to the deep ball as the offense got going with a side-step three from Clark and a connection from Marshall too. Then Clark lit herself afire with a logo three and was clearly confident with the ball in her hands, pulling from all lengths of the court.

So Clark was already up to 14 points to start the second quarter, Iowa holding a 27-19 lead over Maryland.

Iowa’s offensive pace then slowed, Clark missing her first two three-ball attempts and Martin smoking a wide-open layup. But Stuelke ran the floor well for a pair of layups to keep the Hawkeye lead to over three possessions.

Clark took a seat midway through the second upon catching an arm to the mid-section and stopping play to gather herself, but the Iowa offense started to push a bit harder to capitalize on missed Maryland shots even without her to extend the lead to nine.

A putback layup from Davis on a missed transition layup from guard Sydney Affolter then put the Black and Gold up 11 at the media timeout, and a beautiful spin move into an and-one layup got Clark to her 19th point.

The Terrapins just did not have the help defense around down low when Clark blew by her defender with her ball-handling capacity, and Iowa rode a 52-38 lead into the half behind 23 from number 22.

Back and forth

The Hawkeyes enjoyed a double-digit lead for the first half of the third quarter, but a Terrapin push that made a 10-0 run over two minutes cut Iowa’s advantage to eight with six minutes to play.

Out of the timeout, a Maryland corner three shrunk it down to five. And then three. With the Maryland bench and crowd on their feet, a step-through into an and-one from Terrapin Bri McDaniel tied the game at 61.

After a Clark forced off-balance three entirely missed the hoop, Maryland completed a layup for a 63-61 lead of its own to change the tide and set the contest up for an entertaining final stretch.

But it was then Iowa’s turn, an 8-0 run capped off by a Clark three to force a Terp timeout putting the Hawkeyes back on top by six — and ultimately a 73-66 lead for the fourth.

The Terps and Hawkeyes played a tight, back-and-forth, and physical fourth quarter that kept Iowa’s lead in the single digits for the majority of the period.

McDaniel’s physicality attacked the rim for yet another and-one layup to put the Terrapins within two, so both teams exchanged quick and aggressive penetrations to the paint to earn free throws.

Momentum gradually grew in favor of the Black and Gold around the halfway mark of the fourth, boosted by a pump fake into a step-back three from Clark for her 36th point.

Clark turned from scorer to floor general as she attacked the paint, drew the Maryland defense, and kicked out for a trey ball from Affolter before giving Martin a crafty cross-court pass for a back cut and layup.

And the dagger was a kick-out three from Davis for a nine-point lead, but the pass came from Stuelke this time and forced another Terp timeout. The Terrapins unable to mount a massive comeback in the last minute, the Hawkeyes secured the eight-point win.