Lady Lions Ahnilated By Caitlin Clark and No. 6 Iowa
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano led the way as the Hawkeyes beat the Lady Lions in fashionable style, 95-51.
Today’s contest was a special one for the Lady Lions. Since 2007, Penn State has done a Play4Kay game benefitting Pink Zone, which promotes cancer awareness and empowers survivors with vital breast cancer organizations.
Penn State started off with some early fouls, allowing the Hawkeyes to capitalize at the line. Clark and Kate Martin led the way early, scoring 15 of Iowa’s 19 points in the first quarter.
Iowa went on a 12-0 run late in the first quarter, leaving the Lady Lions clueless on the defensive end. Penn State had no answers offensively besides a few good transition baskets.
Iowa was right on every Lady Lion on defense all game, where Penn State just let Iowa run freely around the perimeter, creating open shots.
Penn State couldn’t get any momentum on the offensive side in the first half, missing multiple layups and open shots inside the paint.
Iowa shot 60% from the field and Penn State shot 22% from the field in the first half.
Clark and Czinano led the way for the Hawkeyes, both scoring double digits in the first half.
The lead was as big as 36 for the Hawkeyes in the third quarter, as Iowa kept tacking onto its lead by penetrating the basket.
With a 44-point lead as the fourth quarter began, the Hawkeyes did not let up on either side of the ball for a second. The lead got as big as 49 for the Hawkeyes.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder touched on her team’s performance today, “29 assists on 38 baskets, that’s pretty special,” Bluder said.
Caitlin Clark recorded her ninth triple-double, tied for the second most in D-1 history.
“I try to emulate what Sabrina (Ionescu) did at Oregon and how she impacted her team,” Clark said. “She is my biggest influence and I loved watching her at Oregon.”
“When we can push the ball in transition like we did, that’s what we want,” said Clark
Penn State’s star, Makenna Marisa finished with one of her lowest scoring outputs of the season with just nine points, to go along with six assists and six rebounds.
“Caitlin (Clark) does everything right on the court,” Marisa said. “She does it all and I have a lot of respect for her.”
Taniyah Thompson led the way for Penn State with 11 points and Leilani Kapinus wasn’t too far behind with 10 for the Lady Lions.
“We’ve proven that we can fight through the tough moments and bounce back as a team, we just have to find that for the rest of the season,” Marisa said.
“Shoutout to everyone who came out for today’s Pink Zone game, it’s bigger than basketball,” said Penn State head coach Carolyn Kieger.
The Lady Lions are back in action as they travel to East Lansing on Sunday, February 12 to face the Michigan State Spartans at 3 p.m.
Daniel Maiorana is a sophomore majoring in public relations. To contact him, email dkm5903@psu.edu.
