It was a closer contest than she may have imagined, but Caitlin Clark won her final game at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and is moving on to the Sweet 16 after a narrow victory over West Virginia.
In the process, Clark set the NCAA women’s single-season point scoring record as she now sits with 1,113 points – passing former Washington Huskies guard Kelsey Plum.
Clark and the Hawkeyes will now advance to play the fifth-seeded Colorado Buffaloes in the Sweet 16 in Albany, New York – with a possible rematch with LSU on the cards in the Elite Eight.
While she arrived at a team high of 32 points, she didn’t do so efficiently – shooting 8-for-22 (36 percent) from the field and 5-of-14 (35 percent) from beyond the arc.
But she sank 11-of-12 free throws to help boost her numbers – with free throws ultimately helping her pass Plum’s mark.
Caitlin Clark grabbed herself the women’s single-season NCAA scoring record and ensured the Iowa Hawkeyes moved on to the Sweet 16 with a 64-54 win over West Virginia
JJ Quinerly was one of two WVU players to foul out while her team shot 25 fewer free throws
Clark grabbed 32 points – including sinking 11-of-12 shots from the free throw line
As a whole, both teams had awful shooting nights. Iowa (36.2 percent) outshot West Virginia (33.9) from the field, but the Hawkeyes (22.7) got beaten by the Mountaineers (26.5) from beyond the arc.
The most glaring statistical anomaly came from the fouls and free throws – where West Virginia was at a severe disadvantage.
The Mountaineers had two players foul out and four players on four fouls for a team total of 27. They also only shot five free throws.
Compare that to Iowa – who didn’t have a single player with more than three fouls and shot 30 free throws, hitting 25 of them. That’s a free throw discrepancy of 30-5 in favor of Clark and the Hawkeyes.
Clark and Iowa march on with their path to the national championship game still rough – but not impossible. They next face Colorado – who beat 12-seed Drake by double-digits in their opening game before upsetting Kansas State by 13.
The Buffaloes have lost their last five games against ranked opponents in the tough Pac-12 Conference – including twice to Oregon State as well as USC, UCLA, and Utah.