IOWA CITY – No. 16/13 Iowa defeated No. 10/8 Iowa State, 70-57, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Wednesday night.
Iowa State took a 28-23 lead into halftime but was outscored 47-29 in the second half as Iowa broke away with the victory. The Cyclones had four with 10 or more points in Emily Ryan (15), Ashley Joens (15), Stephanie Soares (10) and Lexi Donarski (10).
The Cyclones capped the first half on a 13-3 run to lead the Hawkeyes to open the game. Ryan led all players with nine points while Soares blocked three shots after two quarters played. Both teams struggled offensively in the opening half as ISU shot just over 30 percent while Iowa was held to 28.6 percent from the field.
How it Happened
Iowa led 6-0 as Iowa State missed its first seven shot attempts Soares hit the first triple of the game with 6:41 on the clock. After going down 11-3, the Cyclones rallied back to tie it at 11 on a Joens 3-pointer as the score remained at 11-11 after one.
ISU got its first lead of the game at 13-11 to open the second. Iowa took the lead back, building it up to five at 20-15 while Ryan answered with a triple to trim the deficit to two midway through the second. Ryan then hit another from deep to go up 21-20. Soares extended the run to 11-0 on the fifth ISU 3-pointer for a 26-20 advantage. A Donarksi layup with 23 seconds to go aided in the Cyclones taking a five-point edge into halftime.
Soares knocked away her fourth shot to begin the third while ISU took its largest lead of the game at 30-23 on a Donarksi layup. Iowa came back within one point but Soares kept Iowa State ahead as she entered double figures off her own rebound, her 10th of the game, to also notch double-double No. 5. The Hawkeyes then pulled away, taking a 19-2 run to go up 50-36 after three quarters.
Ryan connected quickly on a shot beyond the arc in the first 16 seconds of the final quarter to become the second Cyclone in double figures. After trailing by 16, Joens nailed back-to-back triples to cut into the Hawkeyes lead and join Soares and Ryan with 10 points. Iowa responded to stretch the lead to 70-57 for the win.
All-American Caitlin Clark stuffed the stat sheet, she had 19 points, eight rebounds, eight assists, and five steals.
Monika Czinano registered her eighth career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
This is the 9th time this season that Clark has scored 15+ points. Czinano scored 15+ points for the 6th time this year.
Czinano recorded double-digit boards for the 3rd time this season.
It was Iowa’s first win against an AP Top 10 team since beating No. 5 Indiana on Feb. 19, 2022.
Iowa has won six out of the last seven matchups.
Iowa held the Cyclones to its lowest point total of the season.
Tonight’s win marks Lisa Bluder’s 470th win with the Hawkeyes.
It was the 12th AP Top 10 win for Iowa under Lisa Bluder.
Iowa is 1-1 against AP Top 10 teams this season.
It was Iowa’s 26th all-time win against an AP Top 10 team.
The Hawkeyes turned the Cyclones over nine times in the first quarter. ISU only averages 13.1 TOs per game.
It was Iowa’s largest crowd of the season with 13,802 on hand at CHA.
Czinano moved up into 18th all time in rebounds with 617 in her career. Warnock now has 599 career boards and moved up to 20th all time.
Warnock now ranks 12th all time with 142 career 3-pointers.
The nationally ranked Hawkeyes are set to host Minnesota on Saturday. Tip-off in Iowa City is set for 8 p.m. (CT) inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The game will broadcast on BTN and on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
No. 10 Iowa State returns to Hilton to host Jacksonville this Sunday, Dec. 11 at Noon. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and tickets can be purchased through the Iowa State Athletics Ticket Office.
University of Iowa Basketball Media Conference
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Iowa City, Iowa, USA
Coach Lisa Bluder
Women’s Basketball Press Conference
Iowa 70, Iowa State 57
LISA BLUDER: First thing I want to do is thank our crowd. They were amazing today. They really came out. They were loud right when we needed them to be loud, gave us some great defensive energy.
I am extremely happy with our defense this game. I thought our team played with such energy and such focus. I mean, they knew their personnel. They knew their scout well, and they just did an unbelievable job defensively.
That third quarter, probably one of the best third quarters I’ve seen, but you know, when you look at paint points, that we had more paint points, 26-16, and when you consider they’re 6’6″ inside, that makes you feel pretty good. We had more rebounds than they did, turned them over more. It was just a really, good game, and I’m happy for my team.
Q. What’s a game like this — you have the national exposure, the only game with two rated teams and led by former Iowa high school girls, including yourself. What’s it say about the state of Iowa high schools?
LISA BLUDER: I just think that the state of Iowa is just amazing for basketball, always has been. We’ve had basketball in this state longer than anybody else, over 100 years. Jan Jensen’s grandma is in the Hall of Fame. It’s just an amazing tradition that we have of basketball for girls in this state.
Our AAU programs are good, too. Our AAU programs teach fundamentals. They don’t just roll the ball out there, and I think that also is a big advantage for us in-state schools because all four of us are good basketball teams.
Q. Lisa, I imagine it’s been a while since you guys went into halftime with 23 points. What was your message to the team at that point? Their response obviously in the third quarter was great. What did you think was the difference there?
LISA BLUDER: We talked about how great our defense was. I thought our defense was good the first half of this game. We held Iowa State to 28 points. We just said the shots are going to fall. We felt like we were getting good shots, and the numbers are going to come out in the end, so we just really talked about how we thought we were going to score better in the second half.
Q. Lisa, definitely a different mood now this week than a week ago. You’ve pretty much publicly challenged your team to step up defensively. How have you seen that change over the course of the last seven days?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, again, I think this is one of our best defensive efforts, and I really felt like there was a focus, too. There was an energy and a focus to our defense. We knew we were trying to do some different things off certain people, and we created 15 turnovers out there. So, I thought that was very good.
Also, we went eight straight days. Tomorrow is a day off for us, so I was really worried about their legs tonight, and it didn’t bother them at all.
Q. Coach Fennelly mentioned that they played good defense throughout most of the shot clock but you guys were able to get a lot of shots at the end of the clock. How do you explain that?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, Addie got a great put-back in there; Kate had two threes; one didn’t count at the end. I think Gabbie might have had one, too.
But you know, we’re not usually patient on offense. I wouldn’t call us that. We really felt like we needed to work for good shots. Obviously, they had a good defensive effort in the first half, and we just wanted to work the offense a little bit longer because the longer you work, the more tired they’re going to get, and we have an opportunity to get to the free-throw line more.
Q. Coach, did Kate turn an ankle in the postgame celebration?
LISA BLUDER: Yeah, she plays for 36 minutes and 13 seconds without an injury, and then walking off the court she twisted her ankle. I think she was walking. Hopefully she’ll be okay with that.
I thought Kate and McKenna’s defensive efforts were outstanding tonight. I think everybody was as a team, but I thought those two guys really took the challenge of guarding Joens. I thought Monika really took the job of guarding Soares. But I thought those guys did a really good job on Joens.
Q. Did Gabbie lose a tooth?
LISA BLUDER: She did. She lost a tooth out there. Good thing we’ve got a great dental school here. I think she caught an elbow.
