Caitlin Clark “money” when it counts as Iowa women defeat Indiana 86-85 before sellout crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – For all the little kids playing basketball in their driveways, this one was for you.
Caitlin Clark’s 25-foot, off-balance 3-point shot hit the bottom of the net, and 15,000 fans leaped to their feet and roared at the improbable 86-85 victory over No. 2 Indiana Sunday.
“Obviously that was just an unbelievable game for women’s basketball,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “Two really good basketball teams. An unbelievable environment. It’s exactly everything you want. And the good guys won in the end.”
Iowa had only 1.5 seconds to play with after IU’s Mackenzie Holmes made two free throws to put the Hoosiers up 85-83.
The game was tied at 83 when Monika Czinano missed a contested layup, and Indiana called time with 4.6 seconds left. IU used the timeout to advance the ball to its front court. Not surprisingly the Hoosiers went to their bell cow, Holmes, who went one on one against Czinano. Holmes may have traveled, but Iowa’s post was called for a foul and IU was in the bonus.
The referees checked the monitor to check the time remaining and put 1.5 seconds on the clock. Holmes calmly sank both free throws despite the deafening roar of the big crowd.
Iowa had the ball and after a timeout took it out on the side in the front court. The play Iowa called is something it has used a couple times before, according to Bluder.
“We actually stole it from the (Las Vegas) Aces last summer,” she said.
Kate Martin inbounded the ball on the side. McKenna Warnock, who started out by the Hawk beak, cut down the lane to be available near the rim. Clark set sail from the left side to the right. Czinano set a screen at the top of the key that got enough of defender Chloe Moore-McNeil that she stumbled. Czinano remembers running the play in practice and not quite getting the screen set.
“I just kind of knew it had to be there,” she said. “I told her in the huddle, really wait for it, let me come get there, and it just kind of worked perfectly.”
Clark came racing around the screen to get Martin’s pass and, with Moore-McNeil out of the play, launched the shot as she was flying through the air.

“To be honest I thought the ball would go to McKenna and just go for the tie because if you go overtime on your home court you have a pretty good chance,” Clark said. “Monica set a really good screen. I came off of it and somehow I was probably more open than I should have been. I got the ball and shot for the rim and hoped I got it off in time. It spun around for a second but went down.”
Clark told ESPN’s Holly Rowe, “I thought it was money.”
Clark streaked off the court with her arms out and her teammates in hot pursuit. Indiana’s Sydney Parrish looked stunned as she took the ball as it came through the net.
“We’ve worked on that play a lot and I’ve made it a few times in practice,” Clark said.
“She’s done that before in practice,” Czinano said of Clark’s celebratory circle of the home side of the court.
“Well, against the boys in practice I do celebrate,” Clark confessed. “I don’t know I just ran into the crowd. It was a pretty awesome moment.”
This was not a high-percentage shot maybe even for someone of Clark’s ability. But as WNBA coach and TV analyst Stephanie White has said, Clark is a unicorn. What’s a low-percentage off-balance miracle three for a unicorn?
Indiana (26-2, 16-2) came into the game with one loss. It will be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and of course won the Big Ten title last weekend.
“The thing I’m most happy about is it just proved to them what we can do together,” Bluder said.
The game was close throughout and really was a showcase for women’s basketball. Two excellent teams who live and die by playing the game with skills like passing, shooting, screens, switching defenses and guts.
“I thought our team focused hard on the defensive end today,” Bluder said. “Offensively we shot the ball very well. We only had seven turnovers in this game. At their place I think we had 19. That was a big difference.”
Clark led all scorers with 34 and had nine assists. Martin had 19, Czinano 13 and Warnock and Gabbie Marshall eight apiece. Czinano and Clark had nine rebounds apiece. Indiana had four players score at least 16 points led by Holmes’ 21.
As the second seed at the Big Ten tournament, Iowa (23-6, 15-3) plays at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the Target Center in Minneapolis against the winner of the game between Wisconsin and Purdue. Indiana plays the winner of the game between Nebraska and Michigan State. The Spartans are the only other team to beat IU.
But back to “the shot.” But Clark isn’t alone in dreaming of shots like the one she made and practicing her celebratory dance. But this has to beat the victory lap at practice or on the driveway.
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