Iowa women notebook: Preparing for Wisconsin, Caitlin Clark keeps climbing, Molly Davis show
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa took over first place in Big Ten women’s basketball with a rollicking 27-point victory over then co-leader Indiana on Saturday. Iowa is 6-0, Indiana 5-1, Ohio State 4-1, Nebraska 4-2 and Minnesota, Michigan and Maryland are all 3-2 to round out the upper half.
You could have called Saturday’s game a must-win, and it wouldn’t get much of an argument. First, Iowa must return the favor and go to Bloomington, Ind., on Feb. 22, where the environment will be quite different.
Second, Iowa still has to play eight games against upper division foes, including roadies at Ohio State, Maryland, Nebraska, Indiana and Minnesota. None of those games will be easy. It has home games remaining against Nebraska, Michigan and Ohio State, and the same can be said of those.
In addition you can’t dismiss the reality that some of the lower-division teams can pull an upset or two. Michigan State, which gave Iowa fits, almost won at Ohio State. And a team like Illinois, which has underperformed in the eyes of many, could get it together with its quickness and defense.
For Iowa it’s so far, so good, but there’s a long way to go. And coach Lisa Bluder seemed to be saying the same thing.
“We all feel really good about the way we’re playing, and everybody’s attention to detail is really good,” she said after Saturday’s game. “I think the sky’s the limit. But, you know, right now I’m just worried about beating Wisconsin on Tuesday. That’s my only concern right now.”
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Clark Count. Caitlin Clark is 20 points shy of becoming the fourth-leading career scorer in NCAA history. Clark has scored 3,264 points in her career, and former Baylor star Brittney Greiner sits at 3,283. Southwest Missouri State legend Jackie Stiles is next at 3,393.
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Clark leads the nation in scoring with a 30.9 points per game average. USC’s freshman phenom, JuJu Watkins is next averaging 26.5.
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Badgers round II. Wisconsin comes to Carver-Hawkeye Arena Tuesday for an 8 p.m. game that will be shown only on the Peacock streaming service. Iowa defeated Wisconsin 87-65 in Madison in the teams’ first Big Ten conference game.
The Badgers (8-8, 1-5) have had trouble scoring in recent Big Ten outings. They managed only 50 against Purdue, 52 against Michigan and 57 against Nebraska. Their only conference victory came at Illinois.
Wisconsin’s 6-foot-4 center, Serah Williams, was neutralized in the first game against Iowa by her own foul trouble. She leads UW in points (16.5) and rebounds (9.6) and when she was able to stay on the court was a formidable challenge for Iowa’s posts. Of course, coming off a game against All American Mackenzie Holmes that challenge is relative.
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Big Ten stats. Iowa is shooting .394 from 3-point range in Big Ten play, second in the conference only to Penn State. Taylor McCabe leads the way (.667), and among those who play the most minutes Molly Davis is at .455, Gabbie Marshall .424, Clark .422, Sydney Affolter .375.
Iowa also leads the Big Ten in defending the 3-point shot, holding opponents to .236 percent.
Iowa is outrebounding conference foes by 11.1 per game, which leads the league. Overall Iowa is shooting a league-leading 51 percent and 74 percent from the foul line.
The Molly Davis show. Iowa’s fifth-year transfer scored 18 points in the victory over Indiana. It was the most points she’s had in her two years at Iowa.
But Davis spent three seasons at Central Michigan and lit up the scoreboards around the MAC before venturing to Iowa. Her high game was 33 points against Ohio University. She also had 10 rebounds, also at Ohio. Twice she nailed six 3-point shots in a game.
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She was on track to take over the Chippewa record book in multiple categories. So coming here meant fewer minutes and fewer chances to score. Yet after the Indiana game she seemed pretty happy with her decision.
“Just to like think of where I was at Central Michigan to here now, I mean, it kind of chokes me up a little bit talking about it. But it’s really cool just for Coach Bluder to give me an opportunity to play at a place like this; (it) really means a lot to me,” Davis said.
Bluder said that they knew about Davis after she had a good game against Iowa in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. Iowa assistant Raina Harmon had recruited Davis at CMU, so the team had a connection.
“We knew how good of a player she was,” Bluder said. “We needed to have somebody back up Caitlin but who could also play the off guard for us, and she’s done it.”