Feeling Sweet: Hawkeyes grind past West Virginia to advance to the Sweet Sixteen
When the NCAA Tournament bracket was announced, everyone started clamoring about potential matchups about LSU, UCLA, Kansas State or Colorado. The one team that was overlooked? West Virginia. The Mountaineers arrived in Iowa City with their aggressive, phyiscal defense and did not go down without a fight. When the dust settled, the Hawkeyes were the ones feeling sweet. The game resembled something like a Virginia men’s basketball game, but Iowa pulled out a 64-54 win to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Albany.
“Looking back on our journey last year, to me, this is one of the hardest rounds in the NCAA Tournament,” said Caitlin Clark. “Everyone is really good. You’re expected to win. You’re on your home court. You have all the pressure in the world. They have absolutely nothing to lose.”
For the Hawkeyes, the Round of 32 has had its fair share of heart stopping games over the last couple of seasons. The loss to Creighton, the escape of Georgia and now an absolute grind of a victory over West Virginia. However, it’s not about how you win in March. All that matters is that you won in March.
“West Virginia was not an 8 seed. There is no way. That team is really good,” said Coach Lisa Bluder. “This might have been our lowest field goal percentage that we’ve ever won a game with. We found a way to win in a different way, and we won with our defense tonight.”
It was clear from the opening tip that the Mountaineers were going to try to be physical and knock Iowa off their game. Through the opening few minutes, it worked well. WVU jumped out to a 13-8 lead and knocked the Hawkeyes onto their heels. Gabbie Marshall said that it took a few minutes to adjust to the intensity and physicality.
“I would say it took us a quarter to get used to that pressure and them trying to speed us up. I think the message was just to slow down, take a deep breath and keep playing basketball. If they’re in passing lanes, okay, back door, drive around. Do other things, but don’t let them just take us out of our game. That really was the message.”
Iowa ended the first quarter on a 12-2 run, including a pair of three-pointers from Caitlin Clark. It felt like they had finally settled into the game, but it was obvious that it wasn’t going to be the normal up and down high-scoring affair that the Hawkeyes like to play.
The second quarter was a mess. A basket from Caitlin extended the Iowa lead to 26-19, but they went scoreless for the final 4:49 of the half. West Virginia wasn’t much better. A Jayla Hemingway three-pointer and a Kyah Watson basket in the paint cut the lead to 26-24, but those were the only two baskets over the final five minutes of the half. Iowa was 3/11, with four turnovers in the second quarter, while WVU was 4/15 with three turnovers.
“Our offense wasn’t stellar by any means tonight,” said Caitlin Clark. “It’s definitely difficult when people are out-pressuring and denying us like they were. There’s definitely something we can learn from. There’s going to be teams we face going into the next round that are going to pressure us the exact same way.”
Early in the second half, it looked like the Hawkeyes were going to put the rocky first 20 minutes behind them and pull away. Caitlin Clark hit a wide open, second chance three-pointer, while Hannah Stuelke made a pair of free throws to cap off a 12-2 run to begin the third quarter. Trailing 38-26, it felt like WVU was in danger of falling out of the game.
Back-to-back baskets, plus the foul from Kate Martin and Caitlin Clark helped the Hawkeyes extend their lead to 48-38 going into the fourth quarter. Once again, they were on the verge of putting the game away. The knockout blow just never came.
Back-to-back baskets, plus the foul from Kate Martin and Caitlin Clark helped the Hawkeyes extend their lead to 48-38 going into the fourth quarter. Once again, they were on the verge of putting the game away. The knockout blow just never came.
“We had so many opportunities tonight where we got to a ten-point lead, a seven-point lead, and we couldn’t figure out a way to extend it,” said Caitlin Clark. “Honestly, we just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We didn’t make shots we normally make.”
“They just bought into the game plan and into the scout. I thought we were disruptive. That’s kind of been our MO all year on the defensive end,” said WVU HC Mark Kellogg. “It was just a full team effort on the best offensive team in the country.”
That full-team effort on the defensive end allowed them to make one more big push. Iowa was scoreless for the first 5:14 of the final quarter and a Jayla Hemingway three-pointer tied the game at 48.
The turning point came with about two minutes to play. Tied at 52, WVU had a chance to take the lead. Late in the shot clock JJ Quinerly attempted a stepback three-pointer, but Gabbie Marshall got a hand on it. The blocked shot led to a transition opportunity and Syd Affolter took it the basket, plus the foul to put Iowa on top 55-52.
“I could just see it in her eyes that she was going to go downhill and she was going to score that thing,” said Gabbie Marshall. “People don’t realize how strong she is and she’s really hard to guard when she goes downhill. She deserved that and she deserves all the big moments.”
That was the only shot that Iowa made in the fourth quarter. The rest of their work came on the defensive end and at the free throw line. They outscored WVU 12-2 over the final two minutes, including nine made free throws. The final ones, from Caitlin Clark, finished off a 64-54 win for the Hawkeyes sending them to their second straight Sweet Sixteen.
“This is definitely up there with the best of them mentally and emotionally and physically, grinding this out and getting the win,” said Clark. “There’s a lot of positive to take away from this when maybe we didn’t even play our best basketball or look as pretty. That’s more fulfilling of a win for us than going out there and winning by 30 points.”
For a team that leads the country in points per game and points per possession, the Hawkeyes won this game on the defensive end. They held the Mountaineers to 21?62 (33.9%) shooting from the floor and outrebounded them 42-35. The dynamic guard duo of Quinerly and Harrison combined for just 18 points on 7/17 shooting.
“We tried to mix up our defenses a little bit, but I felt our players were really locked in and knew the scouting report really well, knew their personnel very well. Gabbie Marshall doesn’t have a point tonight. She worked her tail off on defense. And that’s worth a lot,” said Lisa Bluder. “I think our defense was very good, and I think it’s because they were so focused on it, and they knew against a really good defensive team like that, they were going to have to match the defensive intensity.”
Caitlin Clark finished with a game-high 32 points, eight rebounds and three assists. Hannah Stuelke tallied a double-double 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Syd Affolter added 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench. Kate Martin pulled down double digits rebounds for the seventh time this season.
The big story came in the turnover battle. Coming into the game, no WVU opponent had gotten out with less than 18 turnovers. After turning it over nine times in the first half, they kept it to just six in the second half. 15 turnovers was a huge win for the Hawkeyes.
“We valued the ball. A little bit shaky to begin with, but we valued the ball,” said Bluder. “The lowest of any West Virginia opponent all year. I am extremely proud of our women for keeping their composure in that situation.”
Up Next, the Hawkeyes will travel to Albany, NY for a matchup against the 5 seeded Colorado Buffaloes on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2:30pm CT and will be televised on ABC.
