For the third time in the last five NCAA Tournaments, Iowa’s women’s basketball team earned a trip to the Elite 8. And all three times, the Hawkeyes faced a Kim Mulkey-coached team.
Top-seeded Iowa (32-4) extended its NCAA Tournament journey with an 89-68 win against No. 5 seed Colorado on Saturday in Albany, N.Y. The victory sets up a showdown with LSU in a rematch of last year’s NCAA championship game.
Iowa led comfortably throughout the game, in part because of Caitlin Clark’s game management. Although Clark struggled at times from 3-point range, she ran Iowa’s offense to near perfection in the half-court and in transition. She finished with 29 points, 16 assists and six rebounds.
Run. It. Back.
Iowa and LSU will meet in the Elite Eight on Monday, April 1 in a rematch of the 2023 NCAA Women’s Basketball Title game.
Call it now, who wins this time? pic.twitter.com/6tZwWUpzok
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) March 30, 2024
The Hawkeyes entered the game as the nation’s leader in both scoring offense (92.0, by 5.9 points per game) and 3-pointers per game (11.1). That was a tough matchup for Colorado, which ranked 312th in 3-point defense. While the Hawkeyes were good from 3-point range, it impacted the floor spacing. Iowa was effective in getting the ball inside, where it scored 46 points.
Along with Clark, Sydney Affolter (15), Gabbie Marshall (14) and Hannah Stuelke (11) scored in double figures for Iowa. Aaronette Vonleh led Colorado with 13 points.
This story will be updated.
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(Photo: Scott Taetsch / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)
