Caitlin Clark pours in 28 as No. 9 Iowa whips Oregon State 73-59 at PK Legacy women’s tournament
Caitlin Clark scored 28 points and No. 9 Iowa’s second-half defense was enough to hold off Oregon State in a 73-59 win Friday night at the PK Legacy women’s tournament semifinals at Chiles Center.
The reigning Big Ten player of the year, Clark scored 18 points during the first half, and shot 12 of 23 from the floor. The Hawkeyes (6-1) led by as many as 17 during the second half, and diffused Oregon State comebacks by holding the Beavers to 31% shooting after halftime.
Oregon State (4-1) plays Duke for third place at Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 7 p.m. Sunday. Iowa faces Connecticut for the PK Legacy championship at 10 a.m. Sunday at Moda Center.
Talia von Oelhoffen scored 22 and Shalexxus Aaron 17 to lead the Beavers.
Iowa’s Monika Czinano scored 13 of her 17 points during the first half.
The Hawkeyes led 44-37 at halftime, as Clark and Czinano combined for 31 of the Hawkeyes’ first-half points. Iowa shot 53% during the first half while taking advantage of an Oregon State slow start.
The Beavers missed their first seven shots. By the time von Oelhoffen put OSU on the board, Iowa had a 9-0 lead. The Beavers hit 6 of their final 9 shots of the first quarter to pull to within 19-16.
A von Oelhoffen three to start the second quarter tied the game at 19. The teams traded baskets on several occasions before Clark took over. Clark scored 10 straight for the Hawkeyes, and back-to-back threes gave Iowa a 33-29 lead. Czinano scored six of Iowa’s final eight points as the Hawkeyes increased their lead to seven by halftime.
Iowa led by as many as 11 points during the third quarter when the defenses took over. The Hawkeyes didn’t score during the final 4:17 of the third, yet only lost three points from their lead as OSU managed just a three-point play by Bendu Yeaney.
OSU continued to clamp down on Iowa, and finally found some offense. Back-to-back baskets by Yeaney and Aaron trimmed the deficit to 57-51 with 7:07 remaining. But the rally was shortlived. Led by Clark, Iowa quickly got the lead back to double digits on the way to handing OSU its first loss of the season.
More on this game coming; check back
–Nick Daschel |
