Caitlin Clark took a shoulder to the chops in the second quarter, and Iowa absorbed a 23-3 Maryland run in the third. Both reacted the same: winced, and then kept balling.
Clark turned in another all-time great performance in College Park Saturday night, logging 38 points, six rebounds and a season-high 12 assists as Iowa outlasted the host Terrapins and prevailed, 93-85.
Kate Martin added her fifth career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Sydney Affolter's fourth-quarter heroics — five points and three offensive rebounds — helped seal the win. Maryland was led by 25 points by Jakia Brown-Turner.
Clark is now 66 points away from breaking the D-1 career scoring record, currently held by former Washington great Kelsey Plum.
The win was Iowa's first at Maryland for both Clark and head coach Lisa Bluder; Iowa's last win there was in 1992-93.
THE DEEP THREE
1. If it was easy it wouldn't be fun. With 6:16 left in the first half, Caitlin Clark took a (clean) shoulder to the ribs while defending in the post. Clark doubled over in pain, forcing a stoppage of play and prompting concerns of an injury.
She was back on the court 66 seconds later.
Once back, Clark's 23 first-half points helped Iowa build its lead to 52-38 by halftime — then as high as 18 in the third quarter, at 58-40.
At that point, Maryland's Bri McDaniel went to work, scoring nine of her 22 points as part of an astonishing 23-3 run that catapulted the Terrapins back in front, igniting the College Park crowd and lurching the game back into a 40-minute contest.
Maryland's energy rarely wavered down the stretch, and Iowa wouldn't take the lead for good until a Clark shot-fake and (of course) logo three-pointer with 5:54 left in the game, breaking a 76-76 tie.
Iowa gathered an astonishing nine offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter — 17 for the game — but the first six didn't result in any second-chance points, as Iowa went 0-3 with three turnovers on those possessions.
The last three, though, may just have saved the game for the Hawkeyes.
With Iowa nursing an 84-80 lead, Sydney Affolter collected an offensive rebound, and Clark turned it into a wide-open layup for Kate Martin as the clock ticked under two minutes to play.
On the Hawkeyes' next possession, Affolter grabbed another offensive rebound*, and in the dying seconds of the shot clock, forward Hannah Stuelke (who finished with six offensive rebounds of her own) would eventually make a desperation assist to Molly Davis for a backbreaking three-pointer, pushing Iowa's lead to safety at 89-80 with 42 seconds left.
Not only did those five second-chance points give Iowa room to breathe in the scoring margin, they also prevented Maryland from attacking in transition — the Terps' most potent weapon in their upset bid. The Terps had a higher bar to clear, they had to do it with about 40 fewer seconds to work with, and they were confined to half-court sets to do it. Complementary football—err, basketball at its finest.
*The Hawkeyes' eighth offensive rebound immediately preceded Affolter's, when Maryland failed to corral a relatively uncontested miss — but perhaps the basketball gods intervened.
2. It's the Caitlin Clark Show. Amid the high drama of the contest, it might have been easy to lose sight of the fact that Clark put together yet another sensational day on the court. The statistics are self-evidently great:
38 points
13-29 shooting (45%)
7-17 3-pt (41%)
5-5 FT (100%)
6 rebounds
12 assists
1 block
Her highlights, though, are why people keep tuning in — and why Fox had a TikTok account following her every move. No shortage of excitement on that front Saturday:
Clark's list of strengths is virtually too numerous to mention at this point, but one that she doesn't get enough credit for is sheer toughness: Clark has never missed a game as a Hawkeye, full stop — Saturday's game was #123 out of 123. Iowa sells these games out not only because Caitlin's on the team, but because fans know she's going to play, and they know she's going to put on a show.
The shoulder to the ribs was also a reminder that there's some luck involved in Clark's "ironwoman" streak underway, that any number of weird freak things could, potentially, sideline her for more than 66 seconds next time.
That shouldn't scare fans, though — every player at every level walks that same tightrope, from the greats on down. If anything, it should heighten fans' appreciation for Clark's ability to put on these world-class performances and still walk off the court with a smile (and maybe a pair of shoes for some lucky child).
3. Mighty Molly and the Roleplayers. Clark's performance was superlative, of course. But wins are a team stat, and Maryland would have pulled the upset if it weren't for the play of contributors like Molly Davis, Syd Affolter and — yes — Addison O'Grady.
Davis was in prime form in the first half in particular, hitting all five of her shots (including two wide-open three-pointers) as the only Hawkeye to join Clark in double figures at halftime, and she was fully in her bag with floaters, passes and all the plays that come with a cosmic basketball IQ like hers.
Molly Davis is just plain fun to watch, the chess queen on a board full of checkers, constantly placing herself in position to make plays before the opponents know they're there.
When Maryland's defense forced Stuelke to just get the ball to anyone in that last-minute play, it was — to nobody's surprise — Davis right there to take Stuelke's touch-pass and drill the dagger.
None of this is a surprise to anyone who's watched the Hawkeyes play this season; Davis' penchant for high-IQ plays and athletic finishes near the rim is almost as sure as Clark's dominance, game in and game out. This is what she does.
Like Clark, too, Davis' creativity means no two performances look alike, and that ability to shift to any moment in front of her will continue to serve Iowa well into March — and perhaps the first weekend of April.
Iowa moves to 21-2 on the season, 10-1 and tied for first in the Big Ten; the Hawkeyes are expected to move to No. 2 in the nation in Monday's AP poll behind only undefeated South Carolina. Iowa's next game is against Penn State Thursday night, tipping off on the Big Ten Network at 8 PM CT.
