No. 14 Indiana Women Routed At No. 3 Iowa; Caitlin Clark Goes Off For 30

It took a while for Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark to get rolling, but when she finally got hot, she led the No. 3 Hawkeyes to an easy 84-57 win over No. 14 Indiana on Saturday night. The loss ended Indiana's 13-game winning streak.

IOWA CITY — Indiana's women's basketball team kept Iowa star Caitlin Clark under wraps for most of the first half Saturday night, but when she got hot, she stayed hot — and that was a problem.

Clark hit two three-pointers just before halftime, and the No. 14-ranked Hoosiers never recovered. Clark finished with 30 points and No. 3 Iowa cruised to an easy 84-57 win in a nationally televised Big Ten showdown despite leading only by six just before the break.

Clark missed all six of her threes in the first quarter, and Iowa led 19-17 after the first 10 minutes. But for the rest of the game, Clark went 6-for-10 from three to total 30 points and 11 assists. Iowa shot 15-for-36 from distance — or 42% — and the majority of them were wide-open looks because Clark attracted considerable attention. Clark had 11 assists. 

“We’re down three, and then of course, (Clark) hits the three to put them up six,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “At that point, we thought we were doing a decent job, but we were turning the ball over too much, and then we come out and we give Cait the back-door layup. All of a sudden you're down nine (points).

"From there, it got out of control. You know that Cait’s probably going to get her average, but you don’t want to let those other guys have big nights.”

Clark was one point shy of her season average, which leads the country. Iowa’s Molly Davis added 18, scoring seven points within two minutes in the second quarter. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder complimented Davis for her defensive effort, holding Hoosier sharpshooter Sara Scalia to only six points, and 0-for-4 from three. 

Indiana was outscored 41-20 in the second half. With eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Indiana's Mackenzie Holmes, the team’s leading scorer, missed two free throws, was substituted out, and wound up smacking the bench in frustration.

Holmes led the Hoosiers with 16 points, and used good footwork to get to the basket. But with Clark’s performance, which doubled Holmes in points, the spotlight was only on one of the All-Americans. Holmes missed more than half of her free throws — accounting for all of Indiana's five misses. Only two Hoosiers got to the line.

“I was pissed off,” Holmes said when asked about smacking the bench. “I don’t think it was necessarily the two free throws, it was just everything collectively, together. I’m a competitive person and an emotional player and stuff like that happens. There’s a lot to learn from this.”

Because of a snowstorm in Iowa, the Hoosiers couldn't fly in until the morning of the game, but Moren said that had no impact on the outcome. The loss ended Indiana’s 13-game winning streak. 

The Hoosiers were just 5-for-20 from three-point range. After Holmes' 16 points, Sydney Parrish and Yarden Garzon added 11 point each. Chloe Moore-McNeil had nine, and Scalia had six points. 

The Hoosiers are now 14-2 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten. Iowa is 17-1 overall and 6-0 in league play. The Hawkeyes, who have won 14 games in a row, come to Bloomington on Feb. 22.

Indiana is back in action on Wednesday, taking on Minnesota at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on Peacock.