No. 6 Iowa women’s basketball trailed No. 2 Indiana by two points with 1.5 seconds remaining Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams. But the Hawkeyes had one not-so-secret weapon: Caitlin Clark.
Clark hit a game-winning 3-pointer as time expired to secure an 86-85 win against the Hoosiers (26-2). And she even as she heaved the ball toward the net with an off-balance shot, she felt supremely confident.
“Honestly?” she said after the win. “I thought it was money.”
AND IT’S NOT EVEN MARCH YET@CaitlinClark22 wins it at the buzzer for the Hawkeyes#NCAAWBB x 🎥 @IowaWBBpic.twitter.com/NdKCWuoMPZ— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessWBB) February 26, 2023
AND IT’S NOT EVEN MARCH YET@CaitlinClark22 wins it at the buzzer for the Hawkeyes#NCAAWBB x 🎥 @IowaWBBpic.twitter.com/NdKCWuoMPZ
The junior guard finished with 34 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists for Iowa in front of a home crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. She entered the day averaging 27.0 points per game for the season, ranked third in the NCAA.
While four players finished with at least 16 points for Big Ten champion Indiana, the Hawkeyes (23-6) held the lead for most of the game. The Hoosiers, though, took a 2-point lead with a pair of Mackenzie Holmes free throws with just more than a second remaining in regulation, setting up Clark’s game-ending heroics.
Holmes led her team with 21 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil and Sydney Parrish each had 18 points for Indiana, and Grace Berger had with 16 points.
For Iowa, senior guard Kate Martin contributed 19 points, and senior forward Monika Czinano added 13 points and nine rebounds.