Iowa will play for Big Ten women’s basketball title Sunday in front of a sellout crowd

IOWA CITY — It’s Senior Day. It will decide the Big Ten championship.

And now, it’s a sellout.

The University of Iowa announced Friday morning all tickets for Sunday’s Michigan-Iowa women’s basketball game have been purchased.

It is the first sellout since Jan. 31, 1988.

Thanks to Iowa’s 88-78 win over Rutgers on Thursday, Sunday’s game has massive, and yet simple, title implications.

Win, and the 21st-ranked Hawkeyes (19-7 overall, 13-4 Big Ten) are assured at least a piece of the Big Ten regular-season championship, their first since 2008. Iowa can win it outright if Michigan State upsets Ohio State on Sunday.

No. 6 Michigan (22-4, 13-3) wins it outright with a victory. The Wolverines defeated the Hawkeyes, 98-90, Feb. 6 in Ann Arbor, in what ended up being Iowa’s only Big Ten road loss.

Tipoff Sunday is 3 p.m. (ESPN2). Doors will open 90 minutes prior to tipoff to accommodate the crowd. Parking is free for all fans. The Hancher Cambus Shuttle also will be available, beginning at 1:30 p.m. and operating postgame.

After knocking off top-10 Indiana twice in three days, the Hawkeyes could have looked past Rutgers on Thursday, but they didn’t take the bait.

“We knew we couldn’t take this game lightly,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “We knew what was at stake for us.”

Caitlin Clark posted 32 points, nine rebounds, nine assists (and eight turnovers). Many of those assists went to Monika Czinano, who hit 10 of 11 shots and scored 23 points.

“A couple of those passes, there was nobody on me,” Czinano said. “That’s the highest-percentage shot in all of basketball.”

McKenna Warnock posted her third straight big game since returning from a broken left hand, tallying 19 points.

Iowa led virtually the whole way, then dug in after Rutgers (9-19, 2-14) closed within three points in the fourth quarter.

Seniors Tomi Taiwo and Logan Cook will be recognized after Sunday’s game. Czinano has announced she will be back for a fifth season in 2022-23.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com