The first-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team stomped the 16th-seeded Holy Cross Crusaders, 91-65, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday.

Similar to the Big Ten Tournament, Caitlin Clark struggled to put the ball in the hoop, but she still led the Hawkeyes with 27 points on 8-of-19 from the field, 3-of-9 from deep, and 8-of-9 from the free throw line. She added 10 assists and eight rebounds but six turnovers to the night.

Moreover, her teammates boosted both her and the team in general:

• Guard Kate Martin scored 15 and snagged 14 rebounds for a double-double
• Center Addison O’Grady scored 14 on 7-of-9 from the field
• Guard Gabbie Marshall scored 11 with three threes

But forward Hannah Stuelke played just 10 minutes in the game, not seeing the floor in the second half due to a lingering illness.

The Hawkeyes’ aggression on the glass brought 16 offensive rebounds and 16 second-chance points, and they scored 29 points off of the bench and 40 in the paint — a testament to potential durability of O’Grady in the five moving forward.

Despite a jagged Iowa offensive start, Marshall cracked the seal with a clear three from the right wing that was all net. And another from the right corner for six of Iowa’s first eight points.

“When Gabbie’s on, it really lights a fire under all of us, honestly,” Martin said. “[Those] makes are contagious.”

And the Crusaders constrained Clark with quick-footed defense and a strong hedge on ball screens that she otherwise often scores out of. So Holy Cross capitalized on Iowa’s turnovers for the easy and open buckets in the halfcourt to keep the Crusaders close.

“I think the first quarter frustrated maybe all of us in a way,” Clark said. “I feel like this is a game you want to come out and dominate from the start because this is what fuels your run … I think maybe we played with a little bit of rust.”

Out of the media timeout, the Hawkeye offense awakened with a Martin trey and facilitation to O’Grady in the paint to slowly establish Iowa’s control of the game’s pace.

But with back-to-back-to-back threes from Holy Cross’ Bronagh Power-Cassidy, that momentum slowed as the Hawkeyes held just a 23-21 lead for the second quarter.

Although she found a handful of open looks from deep, Clark still struggled to knock one down, clapping her hands in frustration with a miss early in the period. So Marshall and Martin — and even Affolter — picked up the slack from deep, and Iowa then enjoyed a 14-point lead at the media timeout.

Grit on the glass gave the Hawkeyes a handful of offensive rebounds, and thus second-chance opportunities, one of such finally leading to Clark’s first three of the game. And with a trey from guard Taylor McCabe right after, Iowa’s lead jumped to 17 and did not look back.

Let’s note a beautiful dump-down pass from Clark to a back-cutting Martin for a left-handed layup, making the lead 18 before it was 48-30, Hawks, at half.

Onto the next

Clark’s shooting struggles continued to open the second half, one possession seeing her miss three shots. She voiced her frustration with officials’ lack of calls in her favor, even having to refrain from slamming the basketball before the media timeout.

“I would say I probably could have smiled a little more tonight,” Clark said. “But, hey, I’m competitive. I want to win. And I expect us to be really good all the time.”

But yet again, offensive rebounds across the board kept an Iowa scoring advantage with so many opportunities.

O’Grady — with Stuelke not seeing any minutes in the second half — established her power around the rim with physicality that created her space and got her open for her fellow Hawkeyes to feed her, and she was up to 10 points with just one miss from the field halfway through the third.

And Clark then found the bottom of the bucket for her third three of the game, and she began to score at ease as the Crusaders’ defense grew increasingly porous. So the Hawkeyes carried a 71-50 lead into the final quarter.

There, two Clark steal-and-scores effectively closed this one down as the Hawkeyes were very locked in defensively. So Bluder rotated her reserves in to finish the win.

“I think when we get stops, that leads to our best offense, which is transition offense, and that’s what we want to get to,” Clark said.

Up next

The win advances the Hawkeyes to the second round of the tournament, their next game coming on Monday again inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“I’m happy with it — I’m not going to ever complain about a 26-point victory,” Bluder said. “I’m cautiously optimistic.”

There, Iowa will play the winner of today’s 4:30 p.m. contest between eighth-seeded West Virginia and ninth-seeded Princeton.