It was an upset filled day across women’s college basketball, as four top 15 teams dropped games against unranked opponents. The unranked Purdue Boilermakers were certainly a team capable of doing the same to the Iowa Hawkeyes, but Lisa Bluder’s squad used a big first half to set the tone for an 83-68 home court victory.
“Our fans again, just amazing their support at eight o’clock on a weeknight,” said Coach Bluder. “You’ve got to control your home court. You just have to in this league, you’ve got to make your statement in these home court games.”
The Hawkeyes got off to a shaky start offensively, but shook it off and used a pair of 7-0 runs, as well as a 13-0 run to build a 44-23 halftime lead. Caitlin Clark and McKenna Warnock each knocked down three 3pt baskets in the first half to pace the Hawkeyes. After just ten points in the first 7.5 minutes of the half, Iowa scored 37 in the final 12.5 minutes to gain control of the game. It’s just another example of how explosive the offense can be when it gets into a rhythm.
“Our defense was really clicking, and our defense leads to our offense. That was a huge part of it,” said Monika Czinano. “Getting out in transition and just really working the ball, working our offense like we know we can, (that) was a big part. They were doing a really good job congesting the lane and coming over to double, so we had shooters open all the time.”
While the Iowa offense was hitting open shots, the Boilermaker offense that was shooting it nearly 50% from the floor coming into the night struggled to gain any rhythm in the opening half. They shot just 25.0% from the floor, including 20.0% from behind the arc. To make things worse for Purdue, the Hawkeyes grabbed 23 of 27 defensive rebound chances in the first half.
“I thought our defense was really good in that first half,” said Bluder. “I thought we set the tone early…We let up a little bit in the second half, you know, we had a significant lead, but they started making a few more shots.”
After a really good first half, the Boilermakers took advantage of a poor third quarter performance from the Hawkeyes. A Jeanae Terry offensive rebound and putback layup cut the once 24-point Iowa lead down to just 53-42. Iowa responded with an 11-2 run over the last two minutes of third and first two minutes of the fourth quarter. It put away any doubts of an Iowa win and they were able to move to 3-0 in Big Ten play with an 83-68 victory.
“We came back from the Christmas break, and we had some really really good practices and I honestly think that’s why we had such a spark,” said McKenna Warnock.
She provided a spark herself with a season-high five three pointers en route to 19 points and nine rebounds. Warnock, a normally reliable long-distance shooter, had made just five of her last fifteen three pointers dating back to early December.
“The coaches, the players, they give me so much confidence. They tell me to shoot it every time I get it even if it’s an off night, but tonight it was nice to see the shots go down.”
Caitlin Clark finished with a team high 24 points on 7/16 shooting, while Hannah Stuelke picked up her first career double-double, totaling 11 points and 10 rebounds in just under 11 minutes on the floor. Monika Czinano added 12 points, but her biggest moment came when she reached the 2,000 point mark for her career early in the fourth quarter at the free throw line.
“It’s really special. It really hasn’t sunk in yet, but seeing Megan (Gustafson) do it and seeing Caitlin do it, it’s a really exclusive list that I’m joining of great Hawkeyes,” said Czinano. “It’s just a huge honor and if I’m getting 2,000 points, I’m getting 1,000 great passes, so my teammates have made a huge impact.”
Czinano joins Megan Gustafson, Ally Disterhoft, Caitlin Clark and Cindy Haugejorde on the 2,000 point list for Iowa Hawkeyes. The crowd was very aware of when she hit the milestone and was giving her a standing ovation despite having one more free throw to shoot.
“I had to make the next one,” Czinano said laughing. “I had to stay straight faced, ‘okay, I have one more,’ and then I could celebrate a little bit after that.”
Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano became the first teammates in Big Ten history to reach the 2,000 point mark for their career in the same season.
The night was also a special one in the crowd, as class of 2023 commit Ava Jones was in attendance. It was her first time back in Carver since her family’s tragic accident in Louisville back in July.
“We got to visit with Ava and her grandma before the game, us coaches did for about an hour up in my office,” said Bluder. “I’m so glad that she got to see Carver-Hawkeye Arena in an electric atmosphere. She is so excited to come here and obviously she’s got some work to do, but she’s a fighter. I’m glad she got to see her future home like this.”
With the win, the Hawkeyes stay in a tie atop the Big Ten standings with Ohio State and Michigan, the other two undefeated teams in conference play. The Indiana Hoosiers were reminded of how tough the conference is this year as they fell at Michigan State earlier in the day.
“This is the toughest it’s been since I’ve been in this conference with great teams across the board,” said Bluder. “Every game you have to bring you’re a game and this group is mature, they’re experienced, and I think they’re more prepared to play on the road than a team that’s younger and less experienced.
That maturity and preparedness will be tested in the next game, as they travel to Champaign for a matchup against a 12-2 Illinois team under first year head coach Shauna Green. The Hawkeyes have won seven straight games in the series, but Sunday may be their toughest test in several years. The game is at 2:00pm and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
