Hawkeyes escape Iowa State, 67-58; Caitlin Clark surpasses 3,000

AMES -- Iowa State was on a fourth-quarter run. Juicy Wiggle was blaring throughout a timeout.

How would Iowa respond? What would Lisa Bluder say?

“She just told us what offense we were in, what defense we were in,” Kate Martin said. “We didn’t need a spectacular speech. We’ve been in situations like this before.”

Like Bill Fennelly said: “That was a bunch of old guys against a bunch of young guys.”

And in the last five minutes, experience mattered.

No. 4 Iowa made the final, fateful surge and escaped Iowa State, 67-58, in a non-conference women’s basketball game before a sellout crowd of 14,267 Wednesday night at Hilton Coliseum.

Caitlin Clark scored 35 points, becoming the 15th Division-I women’s player to reach the 3,000-point plateau for a career.

She is the first player (male or female) to register 3,000 points, 750 rebounds and 750 assists.

But it was the outcome that pleased Clark the most.

“Whether I come back next year or not, this was my last chance to win here, and it feels good,” said Clark, who scored all of Iowa’s 14 third-quarter points and 20 in the second half.

When Clark scored on a drive with 6:40 to go, the Hawkeyes (9-1) looked safe at 54-47.

But Iowa State (4-4) scored eight in a row, with Hannah Belanger’s baseline bucket putting the Cyclones in front, 55-54 at the 4:30 mark.

Bluder called timeout, and the Hawkeyes came out of it composed. After all, they’d been here before.

Sydney Affolter converted a pair of free throws to put Iowa back in front with 4:06 to go.

Then, Clark located Martin under the basket -- twice -- and the Hawkeyes’ lead was 60-56 with 3:05 to play.

“Caitlin gets so much attention. All eyes were on her,” said Martin, who added 16 points. “My (defender) took her eyes off me, and that allowed me to cut backdoor.”

ISU’s Addy Brown said, “Attention to detail is important. We were really good at that for 35 minutes. It got away from us in the last five.”

Another Clark drive made it 62-56, and the Hawkeyes won for the seventh time in the last eight games in the series, and swept their three in-state foes for the second consecutive year and the fifth time in the last seven seasons.

“I feel very happy to get out of here with a victory,” Bluder said. “I thought our defense in the second half was really good.”

Clark, Martin and Gabbie Marshall started on Iowa’s national runner-up team last year. Iowa State, meanwhile, started three freshmen Wednesday.

“When they were getting ready to play for a national championship, a lot of our girls were getting ready for the senior prom,” Fennelly said.

“I’m not into moral victories, and I’m pissed that we got beat. But I love our team. I hinted to them, (Iowa) had better get us now.”

Clark stands at 3,013 points with 20 regular-season games to play.

Her milestone bucket came in transition, a 3-pointer at the 6:09 mark of the third quarter that put the Hawkeyes in front, 43-39.

“I didn’t know,” she said. “You’ve got to keep playing. You don’t celebrate in a timeout.”

Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke returned to action Wednesday after missing the last three games. She came off the bench and posted five points and six rebounds in 13 minutes.

“She did some nice things,” Bluder said. “We didn’t see quite the explosiveness we’re used to, but it was nice to see that 3-pointer from her. That was fun.”

Audi Crooks had 15 points and 10 rebounds for Iowa State. Brown added 14 points and 12 boards.

Both are freshmen.

“A lot of people thought we were going to roll over and die,” Crooks said. “We showed a lot of tenacity.”

The Hawkeyes open Big Ten play at 1:30 Sunday afternoon at Wisconsin.

Iowa State hosts North Dakota State at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Iowa 67, Iowa State 58

At Ames

IOWA (67): Sharon Goodman 1-3 0-0 2, Molly Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Kate Martin 6-12 2-2 16, Caitlin Clark 12-31 5-5 35, Gabbie Marshall 0-5 0-0 0, Sydney Affolter 1-3 5-6 7, Hannah Stuelke 1-4 2-2 5, Addison O’Grady 0-0 0-0 0, Kylie Feuerbach 0-1 0-0 0, Taylor McCabe 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-63 14-15 67.

IOWA STATE (58): Nyamer Diew 4-10 0-0 9, Addy Brown 5-12 3-4 14, Audi Crooks 4-10 6-8 15, Hannah Belanger 4-10 0-0 8, Kelsey Joens 1-6 0-0 2, Isnelle Natabou 1-3 0-0 2, Arianna Jackson 1-2 0-0 3, Jalynn Bristow 2-11 0-0 5. Totals 22-64 9-12 58.

Iowa 21 13 14 19 -- 67

Iowa State 18 16 11 13 -- 58

3-point goals: Iowa 9-31 (Davis 0-2, Martin 2-3, Clark 6-16, Marshall 0-5, Affolter 0-2, Stuelke 1-2, McCabe 0-1), ISU 5-20 (Diew 1-1, Brown 1-5, Crooks 1-2, Belanger 0-4, Joens 0-2, Jackson 1-2, Bristow 1-4). Team fouls: Iowa 15, ISU 16. Fouled out: Diew. Rebounds: Iowa 42 (Clark 9), ISU 43 (Brown 12). Assists: Iowa 13 (Clark 5), ISU 14 (Brown 5). Steals: Iowa 9 (Martin, Affolter 3), ISU 4 (Brown 2). Turnovers: Iowa 9, ISU 11.

Attendance: 14,267.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com