Hawkeyes Enjoy Triumphant Senior Day
It wasn’t a goodbye.
It was more like everything-old-is-new-again.
Sunday’s Senior Day for the Iowa women’s basketball team was supposed to be a sendoff to the historic career of Caitlin Clark and the rest of the seniors who in the last four years turned this program into a show that needed to be seen.
But they sent a message that no, they’re not done yet.
The 93-83 win by the sixth-ranked Hawkeyes over the No. 2 Buckeyes was a statement heading into next week’s Big Ten tournament.
Ohio State came into this game as the Big Ten’s regular-season champion and on a 15-game winning streak that included a win over the Hawkeyes.
But an 18-3 first-quarter run put Iowa in control of this game and left the Buckeyes chasing for the rest of the game.
“I think you can say this is a statement,” said Clark, who scored 35 points and added the biggest record of all to her resumé, passing Pete Maravich to become the career scoring leader in basketball, men’s or women’s, with 3,685 points. “But I think more than anything, it's just good momentum for our team going into the Big Ten tournament. You never want to go to the Big Ten tournament on a loss.”
It felt like one year ago, when the Hawkeyes played host to Indiana in the regular-season finale and won on a last-second 3-pointer by Clark. They went to Minneapolis, roared through the Big Ten tournament to win the championship, then ran through the NCAA tournament right up to the national championship game, where they lost to LSU.
This game didn’t have nearly the dramatics — the Hawkeyes took care of that early, and although the Buckeyes kept getting close, Clark would hit a 3-pointer and then whatever run would be extinguished.
What could have been a stifling day instead was a party. A sellout crowd that featured celebrities from rapper Travis Scott to Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan brought a roar that started during ESPN’s College GameDay and continued for 40 minutes of basketball on another national network.
It’s all part of the show.
“It’s been a lot,” Clark said of the day. “But this is so fun, this is so special.
“This is what we’ve built here.”
“It’s emotional because of the people,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.
Bluder went through a list of everything, from College GameDay to the recruits who showed up. But then she noted the sellout crowd, the loyal fan base that packed Kinnick Stadium for an open-air exhibition in October, the ones who showed up in a blizzard in a January game against Indiana, and now this.
“To think it started with 56,000 people at Kinnick, and now people can’t get a seat for our games,” Bluder said. “It is so meaningful because they are helping propel women’s sports.”
The Hawkeyes have gotten their own March liftoff again. Hannah Stuelke has fit nicely into her post role, finishing with 23 points. Gabbie Marshall is hitting 3-pointers again — she finished with 12 points. Kate Martin had a solid game of 11 points and nine rebounds.
The only sad part of the day was the knee injury suffered by Molly Davis in the first half that left her in a wheelchair for the post-game ceremony. Bluder said she didn’t know the extent of Davis’ injury, but it was clear that it wasn’t good.
But Iowa got six points and seven rebounds from Sydney Affolter, four points and four steals from Kylie Feuerbach.
The run through last March was sparked by the big names and the contributions at key times from different players off the bench. It was the recipe then, it is the recipe now.
The Senior Day ceremony wasn’t a goodbye. The Hawkeyes will be back in Carver-Hawkeye Arena in a few weeks for the opening weekend of the NCAA tournament.
Everything old is new again.
