Iowa women’s basketball team’s NCAA road begins Saturday at home against Holy Cross

IOWA CITY — Put yourselves in Holy Cross’ sneakers, for a moment.

You average less than 1,000 fans, both at home and away. You’re walking Saturday into a wall of sound, facing the best player in the nation.

“I don't think there's anything that can really prepare you for what we're about to face,” Crusaders Coach Maureen Magarity said.

“This is next level.”

The wide-eyed, 16-seed Crusaders (21-12) get their view at women’s basketball royalty when they tackle No. 2 Iowa (29-4) in an NCAA tournament first-round game.

Tipoff is 2 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It will be the Hawkeyes’ first game in 13 days; their last official competition was an overtime win over Nebraska in the Big Ten championship game March 10 at Minneapolis.

The trophy is secured at Carver. The confetti is out of the Hawkeyes’ hair.

It’s time to get back to business.

“One chapter ends, another begins,” Iowa’s Kate Martin said.

Martin is one of five Hawkeyes — along with Caitlin Clark, Gabbie Marshall, Molly Davis and Sharon Goodman — that will play their final game(s) at Carver in the coming days.

Odds are they will depart as winners, and advance on to Albany, N.Y., for the Sweet 16.

According to the ESPN analytics team, Iowa has an 86-percent chance of winning Saturday, then beating West Virginia or Princeton in the second round Monday.

And Warren Nolan.com has Iowa enlisted as a 27-point favorite over Holy Cross.

History favors the Hawkeyes, too; 1-seeds are 115-1 against 16-seeds since the tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1994.

As Magarity said, next level.

“I feel like everybody in our locker room knows what we're capable of,” said Clark, who has been (or will be) named national-player-of-the-year honors by just about everybody.

“To be honest, I don't think seeding really matters. It is what it is. That's your draw. It doesn't matter if you have a ‘1’ by your name.

“I think our group has great perspective on that. Anybody can be beat on any given day. That's just how this tournament works.”

Holy Cross was a First Four victor Thursday, 72-45, over Tennessee-Martin behind Cara McCormick’s 7-of-10 shooting from 3-point range.

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“The arena, it was comfortable, it was something different about it that just made us flow, and I think it kind of looked like we were definitely comfortable (Thursday),” Holy Cross’ Janelle Allen said.

While the Crusaders won, the Hawkeyes watched.

“They've got a couple pretty good shooters from the outside and they're just a good, solid team,” Marshall said. “It’s important for us to guard that 3-point line and play good, solid defense.”

It won’t show on their record, but the Hawkeyes did pick up a win last week, topping their “Gray Team” of managers in a two-point decision.

“Our guys are great, and we appreciate them,” Sydney Affolter said. “It was a competitive game. We had some big 3-pointers down the stretch. I think Gabbie hit a couple of them. I got a steal. Caitlin made some shots at the end.”

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Iowa vs. Holy Cross NCAA women’s basketball tournament glance: Time, TV, live stream, game notes

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