BLOOMINGTON, IN. — The No. 4 Iowa women’s basketball team fell to the Indiana Hoosiers, 86-69, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington, Indiana, Thursday evening. 

Star guard Caitlin Clark led Iowa with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and nine assists. Guard Kate Martin and forward Hannah Stuelke were Iowa’s next leading scorers with 19 and 10, respectively.

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With the win, the Hoosiers’ record increases to 22-4. Guard Sara Scalia and forward Mackenzie Holmes recorded 25 and 24 points, respectively. Scalia finished the game going 3-8 on three-pointers after going 0-4 from behind the arc during the two teams’ first matchup in January when Iowa won 84-57. 

“We didn’t have an answer for Scalia,” head coach Lisa Bluder said during the post-game press conference. “She played really well tonight.”

After winning the toss, Hoosier guard Sydney Parish quickly turned the ball over on her team’s opening possession. Indiana scored first in the game off of two free throws by Scalia. 

The Hawkeyes responded on their next possession with a post basket by Stuelke. 

Scalia hit the Hoosiers’ first three-pointer a minute into the game, to which Clark responded by nailing a three of her own two possessions later for Iowa. It was a back-and-forth contest for the remainder of the first quarter, with both teams going on multiple score runs before the other would respond. 

With six seconds remaining in the first quarter, Indiana’s Lexus Bargesser fouled Clark, and the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer made both her free throw attempts, seemingly the last points of the first quarter.

But with four seconds remaining, Bargesser let the ball roll down the court, only to pick it up once it reached half-court and scored on a mid-range jumper that fell through the net as time expired. Indiana led 23-22. 

Clark said Indiana was the more aggressive team, and their players did a good job denying her the ball.

“They were just tenacious,” Clark said during the post-game press conference. “It helps when there are 17,000 people screaming for you; that never hurts anybody.”

Guard Yarden Garzon got things started early for the Hoosiers in the second quarter, hitting a three less than one minute into the quarter, gesturing to the crowd as she ran back.

Garzon fouled Clark on a shooting attempt on the following possession, but Clark, who came into the game averaging an 85.7 free throw percentage, uncharacteristically missed both attempts.

Clark hit her second three-pointer of the game a couple of possessions later. On Iowa’s next offensive possession, Clark turned the ball over, and after, Indiana went on a 7-0 run capped off by three free throws from Scalia following a shooting foul by guard Molly Davis. 

Clark stopped the bleeding with three minutes remaining in the quarter by hitting her first free throw attempt after a foul by Parish but was unsuccessful on the following attempt. 

The momentum was all Indiana’s going into halftime, and the Hoosiers led 44-33, only the second time Iowa trailed by more than 10 after two quarters this season. 

Feeding off the crowd

The second half started with Scalia converting on an and-one play after getting fouled by Marshall.

Later, Garzon stripped Clark while she was driving to the basket, and the Hoosiers scored after Holmes scored easily over the shorter Davis and Clark, forcing Bluder to call a timeout as Iowa trailed by 16.

Davis scored Iowa’s first points of the third quarter on a three-pointer after the team had gone scoreless during the first three minutes. The Hawkeyes scored four more points after layups by Clark and Martin, but the 6-0 run was quickly negated after Parish hit two three-pointers on back-to-back possessions for Indiana. 

Iowa wasn’t out of it yet, and an Addison O’Grady layup underneath the basket cut Indiana’s lead to just eight with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter. With one quarter remaining, Iowa trailed 62-54.

Clark said she was proud of how her team continued to compete despite trailing late in the game.

“I wouldn’t say we’re a team that plays from behind very much, but I will give us some credit. I thought we kept battling,” she said. 

After Clark made a layup on Iowa’s first possession, the Hoosiers would go on a 7-0 run for the next three minutes, with a Garzon accounting for five of those points. 

Stuelke would stop Indiana’s run by scoring her seventh point of the game off an assist from guard Sydney Affotler. A couple of possessions later, Stuelke went 1-2 from the free-throw line after a foul by Holmes, and Indiana led 71-59.

Iowa tried scratching their way back into the game, but with the help of a ruckus crowd, Indiana shot 9-10 during the fourth quarter, with Holmes accounting for 10 of those points. 

Bargesser would dribble it out for Indiana as time would expire, and the Hoosiers would win it 86-59.

Up next

Iowa, now 23-4, returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, Feb. 25, to face off against the 13-12 Illinois Fighting Illini.