Turned ankle and cut lip were no match for Caitlin Clark and Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY — Finally, and these things do take time, the box office is catching up with the buzz when it comes to Caitlin Clark and Iowa women’s basketball.

Carver-Hawkeye Arena was no ghost town for the team’s games last season by any stretch, not with Iowa ranking fifth nationally in attendance at 8,224 per game. But Clark was a national name, a marquee player the likes of which the program and its fans hadn’t seen. That’s said with no disrespect to the fantastic Megan Gustafson, who came before her.

This season, over 6,000 season tickets have been sold. Five-digit crowds should be the norm to see junior guard Clark and the fourth-ranked Hawkeyes.

Monday’s season-opening crowd was 7,417, but that was an impressive total considering it was an 8:30 p.m. Monday game against Southern University that everyone knew wouldn’t be a contest.

What comes with all the fans this winter are great expectations. When you shared the Big Ten regular-season title and won the conference tournament last season and have megastar Clark, first-team all-conference center Monika Czinano, and a better and deeper club all-around? It’s time to shoot for the moon and the stars.

Clark will carry that weight from now until spring. She seems built for it. Monday’s first quarter and what followed may have said more about her than any 40-point (she had four last season) or 10-assist game (she had 12).

What if this season had been over for Clark before it got started, or delayed for several weeks? The thought haunted the crowd three minutes into Monday’s game when Clark was flat on her back after a drive to the basket when she stepped on an opponent’s foot.

She was down for a few minutes. She pounded the court in frustration and/or pain. But she arose and limped to the trainer’s room.

“Kind of just a freak injury,” Clark said after the game. “I don't exactly know what happened. Just tweaked my ankle a little bit. But things like that happen.

“Obviously, it's not ideal, but I was just like, ‘Tape it up. I want to get back out there.’

“I’ve dealt with injuries in my life, so I’m all good.”

She reentered the game shortly thereafter. A few minutes later, she had a bloody lip that forced her back to the sideline, and the look on her face was one of someone churning to get right back on the floor.

The Hawkeyes were discombobulated. They led just 15-10 at the end of the quarter, and missed their first nine 3-point tries. Clark, who averaged a nation-best 27 points last season and led the country in scoring the last two years, had two points and two turnovers.

The turned ankle and cut lip quickly faded from memory. Clark knocked down two 3-pointers in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter, and Iowa’s lead ballooned to 43-15 by halftime.

She played just 20 minutes because that was more than enough, and she scored 20 points. Iowa won, 87-34. The story was the Hawkeyes’ bench players scoring almost as many points as the starters. Transfer point guard Molly Davis and freshmen Hannah Stuelke and Taylor McCabe look ready to be significant parts of the collective.

Davis, not defending NCAA assists-leader Clark, had the team-high in that category with four. McCabe popped in three 3-pointers. Cedar Rapids’ Stuelke had 10 points and six rebounds in 14 minutes.

“You can see her athleticism,” Bluder said about Stuelke. “It just oozes out of her. I mean, it’s just so much fun to watch her play.”

Clark has posted enormous scoring numbers and will continue to do so. But she’s been there, done that. Her mission is to lead a team to more Big Ten glory followed by an NCAA tournament run that isn’t cut short in the first week like it was last March.

Iowa hosts Evansville Thursday night in a 6:30 game. The Purple Aces have a guard named Clark who made 8 of 9 3-pointers Monday in an 89-81 win at Eastern Kentucky. Myia Clark scored 25 points.

Some advice: If you bet on a Clark making eight 3s Thursday, side with Caitlin.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com