The No. 2 seed Iowa Hawkeyes redeemed themselves from last year’s second-round exit by defeating the physically tough No. 10 seed Georgia Lady Bulldogs to earn a trip to the Sweet Sixteen in Seattle.
They played together as a team and each player contributed even as freshman forward Hannah Stuelke was out with an ankle injury she sustained in practice on Saturday.
From the start, the pace was blinding as the Lady Bulldogs came out with much more quickness than usual knowing that the Hawkeyes play at a much higher caliber. Thus, both sides were essentially on the same level. The first five minutes of the game had already become a battle of control of the game with Iowa holding a slight edge at 12-8 with 4:45 remaining.
Georgia looked to limit the amount of points that Iowa would normally generate with ease from the 3-point line and relied on their pressure-packed defense to make the Hawkeyes work for their points inside. As a result, Iowa did just that as most of their points came from inside and at a foul line, with the exception being two 3-pointers, one from Caitlin Clark and one from Kate Martin.
Their biggest Achilles heel that would sustain them throughout the game was turnovers, which the Lady Bulldogs capitalized off of as much as they could.
At the 2:48 mark,…
