That’s March to a T.

Upsets, close games and ultimately heartbreak for the losing team.

Just so happens that the losing team today was the Iowa Women’s Basketball team.

The #10 seeded Creighton Bluejays came into a loud Carver-Hawkeye Arena and walked out with a 64-62 win against the #2 seeded Iowa Hawkeyes. It is the first Sweet 16 appearance in school history for Creighton.

“Just want to congratulate Creighton,” said Coach Lisa Bluder. “A very well-played game, executed really well, defended really well. That's a hard match-up for us. Five guards is a hard match-up. We knew that.”

It was a familiar face to Hawkeye fans that made the big shots down the stretch for the Bluejays. Lauren Jensen scored 19 points on 8/15 shooting, including the game winning 3pt shot with 12.6 to play in the game. She had nine of the last ten points for Creighton.

“She goes over there, and she comes back and beats us on our home court, and I want to congratulate her because she's a great kid,” said Bluder. “I wish it wasn't in this situation, but I am happy for her that she's found a really good home and is really having a lot of success.”

The game started out on a feverish scoring pace, with the Jays jumping out to a 17-15 lead over the first five minutes of play. That quickly slowed down with both teams starting to miss shots, but Jim Flanery’s squad pulled ahead. A pair of free throws from Morgan Maly gave them their largest lead of the game at 38-26, but the Hawkeyes countered with a 6-0 run to end the half.

Monika Czinano had 15 points in the first half on 7/10 shooting and that was a match-up going into the game that Iowa felt like they had the advantage in.

Through much of the third quarter, the Hawkeyes kept it within a few points, but it seemed like every time they had a chance to tie or take a lead, the shot just didn’t fall. The Creighton lead never got above six points in the quarter, but it never was tied.

Iowa finally broke through with about 7 minutes to play. Gabbie Marshall hit a pair of 3pt shots to give the Hawkeyes a 56-54 lead. It was their first lead since it was just 7-6 and Carver was rocking.

“Our crowd today was amazing again,” said Bluder. “I apologize to our fans that they couldn't celebrate a victory with us today.”

Monika Czinano added a basket to extend Iowa’s lead to 58-54, which forced a Creighton timeout with 5:29 to play. Czinano had 27 points on 12/20 shooting, and it felt like that basket was the one that gave the Hawkeyes the momentum they needed to pick up a win.

However, the aforementioned Lauren Jensen came up big down the stretch and her 3pt make with under 15 seconds to play was the play of the weekend.

“I came off of it (a screen) kind of assessing my options. I knew that if they were going to switch, I could possibly have a three-point shot,” said Jensen. “I ended up passing it back to Tatum, and then that kind of freed me up just a little bit to be able to get the shot off.”

The story of the game was the rebounding disparity. The smaller Creighton Bluejays outrebounded the Hawkeyes 52-37 and turned 15 offensive rebounds into 19 big second chance points. Part of that can be attributed to the Jays throwing up 34 3pt shots, which leads to long rebounds, but Iowa just didn’t put out their best effort on the defensive glass.

“I think that was kind of the story of the game as well for us. In games we've lost, rebounding has been a pretty big issue for us, and it was tonight,” said Caitlin Clark. “When people get more opportunities -- basically double you up on opportunities to shoot the ball, it's going to be really hard to win a basketball game.”

The Hawkeyes had the ball out of a timeout with 3.6 seconds remaining trailing by two and went to the player that’s been as close to a sure as basket as anyone in the country. However, this time Monika Czinano’s hook shot came up short, with the subsequent follow up shots from Iowa missing and the Creighton bench spilled onto the floor as the buzzer sounded.

“I've shot a million hook shots in my life and that one happened to not go in,” said Czinano. Monika finished the season making 90 over her last 119 shots (75.6%), but the biggest one just didn’t find the bottom of the basket. That’s how the game is sometimes.

The Hawkeyes wrap up the season at 24-8 and while a second-round exit was not what the players, coaches and fans wanted; this was a season to remember for the Hawkeyes. They fought through Covid postponements, schedule changes and injuries, all to finish in a first-place tie with Ohio State for the Big Ten Regular Season crown. They followed it up with a Big Ten Tournament Title.

“I think we're a fun team to watch. I think people are picking up on that and I think it's drawing more eyes to the sport,” said Czinano. “People come a lot of times for Caitlin's name, and they stay because we're so fun to watch as a collective unit. I'm just so proud of what we're doing here, and the story is not over for us.”

While seniors Tomi Taiwo and Logan Cook depart from the Hawkeyes, Lisa Bluder will return all five starters next season, headlined by the best player in women’s basketball in Caitlin Clark and the most efficient scorer in women’s basket in Monika Czinano. It’s a team that will probably once again be ranked in the top ten to open the season and there is no doubting they will be hungry to make a deeper NCAA Tournament run.