By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Normally, Monika Czinano has her 11^th point of the game near halftime. But when she stood at the free-throw line with 6:15 left in Iowa’s game against Purdue she still needed one to get there. She dropped it in the basket, and the nearly 12,000 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena stood in tribute. She then made the second free throw.

“I had to make the next one too,” Czinano said. “I had to keep a straight face. It was really cool.”

 With that first foul shot Czinano joined teammate Caitlin Clark in the rarified air of the 2,000-point club at Iowa. Clark reached the career-scoring milestone last week against Dartmouth; Czinano did it in the next game the team played, an 83-68 victory over the Boilermakers Thursday night.

“It’s really special,” Czinano said. “It probably hasn’t sunk in yet, but seeing Megan (Gustafson) do it and seeing Caitlin do it it’s a really exclusive list I’m joining of great Hawkeyes. And my teammates. If I’m making 2,000 shots I’m getting 1,000 passes, so my teammates have made a huge impact in that.”

“Congrats to Monika,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “That is an unbelievably difficult accomplishment. Only five women have done that at the University of Iowa (Gustafson, Ali Disterhoft and Cindy Haugejorde are the others). It’s the first time in Big Ten history that it’s been done in the same season by teammates.”

After a slow start Iowa took control late in the first quarter and built its lead throughout the second.  With the game tied at 10 Iowa’s offense got its mojo working and scored on nine of 11 possessions. Its empty possessions came on turnovers.

Kate Martin hit a three, Clark hit two jumpers, and Czinano tossed to Clark for a 3-pointer to end the first quarter with a 20-12 lead.

In the second quarter, Sydney Affolter got a layup on a sweet pass from Gabbie Marshall. Clark hit a long three and then fed Czinano inside. Hannah Stuelke lit up the crowd when she skied for a rebound follow off a missed Clark 3-pointer. Next time down the floor Stuelke did the same thing on a Martin miss for a 31-18 lead.

“Hannah Stuelke was such a nice spark, coming in and rebounding like she’s capable of,” Bluder said.

With all due respect to Hawkeyes past, it’s been a long time since Iowa has had a post player who appears to be using a trampoline to get up and grab a rebound. The crowd was enthralled by Stuelke’s first double-double (11 points on 5-of-6 shooting, 10 rebounds in 10-1/2 minutes).

The Hawkeyes finished the quarter by scoring on five of their last seven possessions. McKenna Warnock hit back-to-back threes and then made a rebound follow shot. Clark fed Czinano and then hit a three on a feed from Czinano. Iowa led 44-23 at half after shooting 49 percent from the floor and making 44 percent of its threes.

“I think it was really a combination of our defense clicking. Our defense leads to our offense, so that was a huge part of it,” Czinano said. “We were in transition, really working the offense, that was a big part. But I also think (the Boilermakers) were doing a good job of clogging the lane, leaving shooters open all the time. The 3-point shot was kind of there tonight.”

 Iowa finished making 11-of-27 3-pointers (.407).

 Warnock was on a mission. She ended up with 19 points, making 5-of-7 threes. She shot confidently, and her teammates started to look for her. She also grabbed nine rebounds.

 “I just got passes from people,” Warnock said, laughing. “Tonight was nice to see the shots go down.”

“I just thought McKenna played a great game today,” Bluder said. “Her adjusted shooting percentage was 95. Just outstanding.”

 Just as Iowa heated up in the first half, Purdue struggled to find the range. The Boilers made only 3-of-15 3-point shots. They came in averaging 35 percent behind the arc. Overall the Boilermakers made just 9-of-36 shots (25 percent) in the half. Sharpshooter Cassidy Harden was 0-for-4 from 3-point range.

Iowa held Purdue’s leading scorer Lasha Petree to six first-half points on 2-of-9 shooting.

“I thought our defense was really good that first half,” Bluder said. “I thought we set the tone early.”

The Hawkeyes cooled off in the third quarter as Purdue narrowed the gap to 58-44 heading into the fourth quarter. But Iowa never let the Boilers get closer than 11 points, and Clark’s 3-pointer bumped it back to 14 and out of reach. Clark scored a game-high 24 with four 3-pointers. Petree led Purdue with 22 points. The Boilermakers shot only 34.7 percent for the game.

Iowa (11-3, 3-0) plays at Illinois Sunday at 2 p.m. and follows that with another road game at Michigan on Jan. 7. Purdue fell to 10-3, 1-2. Iowa will not play Purdue again during the regular season.

LAW FIRM™️ https://t.co/SMhZB3Ge01

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 30, 2022