ALBANY, N.Y. — Caitlin Clark scored a game-high 29 points to lead Iowa to an 89-68 win over Colorado on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament and set up a date with defending champion LSU in the Elite Eight.
Iowa (32-4), the No. 1 seed in the Albany 2 region, fell short of its season average score of 92.0 points per game but had plenty of firepower against the fifth-seeded Buffaloes (24-10).
Clark led a parade of scorers in double figures for the Hawkeyes, and she added six rebounds and 15 assists. Sydney Affolter had 15 points, Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin chipped in 14 each and Hannah Stuelke scored 11 and had a game-high 10 rebounds.
“We always preach there’s five players on the court,” Affolter said. “We’re confident in each other to knock down those shots.”
It was the 46th straight game of at least 20 points for Clark.
For the Buffaloes, Aaronette Vonleh led the way with 13 points, while Maddie Nolan and Frida Formann each tallied 12.
The Buffaloes shot 37.5 percent for the game, while Iowa hit 53.8 percent of its shots.
After three tense games in the regional semifinals on Friday and Saturday, fans at MVP Arena let loose and cheered loudly as Clark and Iowa ran away with the game in the fourth quarter, chanting “Let’s Go Hawks” after Marshall hit her third 3 in just over two minutes to give Iowa a 79-52 lead with 7:01 remaining in the game.
“She does a great job in finding her teammates,” Marshall said of Clark. “We’re kind of hard to guard.”
The Hawkeyes took a 48-35 lead into halftime after shooting a blistering 61.3 percent from the field, led by Clark’s 15 points (7-of-11 shooting). Iowa went on a 10-0 run bridging the first and second quarters and saw its lead grow to 15 before Colorado’s Tameiya Sadler scored on a layup with 19 seconds left in the half.
“We tried so many different things,” Colorado coach JR Payne said about trying to contain Iowa’s offense. “Nothing we could do to stem the tide. They were just better than us today.”
Monday’s game against LSU (31-5) will be a rematch of last year’s national championship game, won 102-85 by the Tigers. Clark had 30 points with eight assists in that game, while LSU star Angel Reese contributed a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
No. 3 seed LSU defeated No. 2 seed UCLA earlier Saturday 78-69.
–Jami Farkas, Field Level Media
