Hawkeyes rout Penn State, move to 6-1 in Big Ten play

On3 imageby:Kyle Huesmann01/14/23

HuesmannKyle

When you’re on, you’re on. Today, the Hawkeyes were clicking on all cylinders straight from the opening tip. They put the Lady Lions in a big hole early and rolled to a 108-67 victory in front of a large Saturday crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa extended their win streak to three games, while they have now won seven straight games against Penn State dating back to 2018.

“That is 12 quarters in a row that we’ve played really good basketball and I thought the first quarter we just took control immediately,” said Coach Lisa Bluder. “I thought we set the tempo offensively and defensively…It was an all-around very good basketball game for us.”

The Hawkeyes were nearly perfect in the first quarter. The offense was clicking and shots were falling. Penn State couldn’t keep up and Iowa quickly built a 34-10 lead. They made 15 of their first 17 shots, while 13 assists set a school record for most in quarter. The Lady Lions never really had a chance to get their press defense going and it started with the Hawkeyes getting stops on the defensive end.

“That was one of our focus points. That was our to key to the game. We wanted to get stops, so we were still able to get to our transition offense,” said Caitlin Clark. “It’s harder to push in transition when you allow them to set up their press and they’re doing full court man.

The opening quarter set the tone for the rest of the game. After shooting 75% from the floor in the first, the Hawkeyes cooled down to 43% in the second quarter, but still went into the halftime break with a 57-29 lead.

Monika Czinano opened the second half with six straight points, while McKenna Warnock followed with a layup on a fast break to open up a 65-29 lead. The 8-0 run forced a Penn State timeout and from that point on, the game was all about getting the bench involved. Every Hawkeye saw the floor and 12 scored at least two points. Lisa Bluder’s sqad was able to sit back and roll to a third straight victory. It was the fourth time in a row that they have scored 95+ points against the Lady Lions, including the third time scoring 100+ points.

“It’s really hard to play zone versus us,” said Caitlin Clark. “We do a really good job of find people in the middle of the zone and then we have so many good shooters spread out across the outside. We also have Monika on the block, so you really have to make a choice. Are they going to take away Monika or are they going to focus more on our shooters. It’s just really tough to match up with us in zone.”

Across the stat sheet there were numbers to be excited about. The Hawkeyes shot 36/66 (54.5%) from the floor and assisted on 26 of those baskets. They outrebounded the Lady Lions 44-31 and turned 13 offensive rebounds into 15 points.

Caitlin Clark logged a double-double with 27 points, ten assists and seven rebounds. It is her 33rd double-double in her career. McKenna Warnock also picked a double-double with 16 points and ten rebounds on the day. It was the 13th of her career. Monika Czinano finished with 20 points on 7/11 shooting, as well as five rebounds. Czinano has now scored 18+ points in nine of her last ten games.

What went well for the Hawkeyes

1. Defense turned into offense. The Hawkeyes held the Lady Lions to 22/60 (36.7%) shooting from the floor, including just 3/21 (14.3%) from behind the arc. Everytime Penn State missed a shot, it was just another time that they could not use their press to try to slow down Iowa’s offense. The defense also forced 20 turnovers and turned it into 31 points.

2. Gabbie Marshall slowed Makenna Marisa. It was said in our game preview slowing Makenna Marisa down was going to be a key to victory. In recent losses to Nebraska, Michigan and Indiana, Marisa wasn’t the leading scorer and averaged just 13.3 points per game. Today, Gabbie Marshall was outstanding defensively against Marisa. She shot just 2/13 from the floor, including 0/4 from three-point range. Marisa’s five points were her lowest output in 51 games.

3. Bench Production. Hannah Stuelke and Sydney Affolter came up with 23 points on 9/11 shooting, as well as six rebounds off the bench. Stuelke now has 52 points in 51 minutes on the floor since the Christmas break, while 12 points is a career-high for Affolter.

Up next for Iowa…

With the win, Iowa moves to 14-4 on the season and 6-1 in Big Ten play. Next time out, the Hawkeyes will be at the Breslin Center in East Lansing, Michigan to take on the Michigan State Spartans. The Spartans have a 10-8 record, but are just 2-5 in Big Ten play, including three straight losses. The game is on Wednesday with a tip time set for 6:00pm. It will be streamed on BTN+.

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