South Iowa News

The Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team took charge early and never looked back as they handled the Evansville Purple Aces 93-56 last weekend.

“I thought our start to the game was really good,” coach Lisa Bluder said, according to Hawkeye Sports. “Second-quarter we had a dip down there, but again very pleased that we got to play today.”

It was a last-minute add to the Hawkeyes’ schedule, as COVID-19 protocols continues to affect sports teams across the nation, Hawkeye Report reported. Several Iowa women’s games have been canceled or postponed because of the virus. 

Score aside, several career bests were achieved during the game.

Caitlin Clark set the pace, scoring 44 points in less than 30 minutes of floor time, Hawkeye Sports reported. That is the most points scored by an individual player at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It also put the sophomore over 1,000 points in her career in the shortest amount of time it has taken any Big Ten player to hit that mark.

Freshman Addison O’Grady posted her first collegiate double-double, sinking 14 points and grabbing 12 rebounds.

Gabbie Marshall had a season-high 13 points.

And two players, Tomi Taiwo and Kylie Feuerbach, had their season-best five rebounds each.

Iowa (7-4 overall, 1-1 in the Big Ten) hoped to use the game as a springboard before they got back into conference play, but Northwestern (10-3, 2-0) tripped them up, scratching out a 77-69 upset against the No. 22 Hawkeyes in a game that was tied with a little more than 2 minutes left. But Iowa's shooting turned cold and NU sank a bunch of free throws to secure the win.