Historical precedent was defied as the No. 6 Iowa Hawkeyes conquered their Big Ten rival, the No. 8 Maryland Terrapins, at home for their seventh consecutive win as the conclusion of the regular season rapidly approaches and conference play remains competitive. Since joining the Big Ten, the Terps had held the advantage and many anticipated that this game would be competitive and down to the wire.
From the start, the Hawkeyes were off to the races. They crashed the boards on defense, got back in transition smoothly, and jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead within the first four minutes of the first quarter. All seven of those points were scored by Caitlin Clark.
Given the stakes of this game, the Hawkeyes came out wanting something versus protecting something.
Coach Lisa Bluder quickly went to her bench and brought in major contributors Hannah Stuelke and Molly Davis to provide assistance. Davis came in to provide relief for McKenna Warnock who was taking as much time as she could to adjust in her first game back from a rib injury.
The Terp defense immediately went into double-teaming Clark as much as it could to neutralize her obvious offensive prowess and possibly force some turnovers. At first, Maryland’s strategy wasn’t working even as it was making some inroads with…
