Iowa women will face Penn State Friday in Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – It’s Penn State.
The second-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team (26-4) will play Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m. Friday in the Target Center in Minneapolis. Penn State (19-11) defeated Wisconsin, 80-56, Thursday night to advance.
The Nittany Lions shot 69 percent in the first quarter and 61 percent overall in the decisive first half. They outrebounded the Badgers by 12 in the half and had only six turnovers. PSU played 10 players, and all but one scored.
“We’ve been executing personnel (on defense) the last three games almost flawlessly,” Penn State coach Carolyn Kieger told the Big Ten Network. “l would say we’ve played our smartest games the last two games, in terms of defense and short close outs, packing the paint, gapping. Obviously it’s going to be a tall task to be able to gap when you’re playing Caitlin Clark, but I thought our team did a great job.”
Guard Shay Ciezki, who was hurt during the only meeting between Iowa and PSU, is healthy and playing. She is another scorer on a team that already scores 84.4 points per game.
Penn State had four players score in double figures and dominated the boards.
Iowa defeated Penn State 111-93 on Feb. 8 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Iowa fans will remember it as the Hannah Stuelke show, as the sophomore scored a career-high 47 points. She made 17-of-20 shots and 13-of-21 free throws. She drew 13 fouls from the Nittany Lions.
Caitlin Clark added 27 points and 15 assists. Kate Martin scored 16 and Syd Affolter nine.
Iowa committed 17 turnovers, 12 by Clark, and 20 fouls. Penn State committed 31 fouls.
“I remember they drew a lot of fouls,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said Tuesday. “What was it, 58 fouls in the fourth quarter, some crazy number like that. Or 58 foul shots I believe. It was nuts.”
Overall the teams shot 71 free throws.
If that happens again maybe Iowa and Penn State will both be sent to detention.
PSU’s Ashley Owusu made only 4-of-15 shots but added 10 free throws to finish with a team-high 18. Neither team shot well from beyond the arc, but Iowa made hay inside with Stuelke.
In other Thursday games, Maryland beat Illinois, 75-65, to advance to the quarters to play top-seeded Ohio State (25-4). Nebraska (20-10) beat Purdue, 64-56, to earn a spot against fourth-seeded Michigan State (22-7) Friday. The Spartans got the bye instead of Nebraska because the Huskers lost at Illinois by one point in the final regular-season game.
The late game was Minnesota-Michigan, with the winner playing third-seeded Indiana (24-4) on Friday night.