IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark scored 35 points in her final regular-season home game, becoming the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader in No. 6 Iowa’s 93-83 win over No. 2 Ohio State on Sunday.
Hannah Stuelke scored 23 points and Gabbie Marshall added 12 for the Hawkeyes (26-4, 15-3 Big Ten), who secured the No. 2 seed in next week’s Big Ten Tournament behind the regular-season champion Buckeyes (25-4, 16-2), who had their 15-game winning streak snapped.
Clark, who announced on Thursday that she would enter the WNBA draft after the season despite having another year of eligibility remaining, made two free throws with less than a second left in the first half to eclipse Pete Maravich’s 3,667 career points. Clark has 3,685 points heading into the postseason.
The Hawkeyes were facing a similar scenario last season, when they defeated regular-season champion Indiana on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Clark. But there was no need for late drama as Iowa took control of this game in the first half.
The Hawkeyes went on an 18-3 run in the first quarter to take a 25-10 lead. Ohio State rallied in the second quarter to get within four points twice, and trailed 44-39 after Rikki Harris’ 3-pointer with seven seconds left before a wild sequence of events closed the half.
Stuelke was fouled on a layup attempt with three-tenths of a second left. McMahon was then called for a technical foul after the play for bumping Clark during the dead ball. Stuelke hit her two free throws, then Clark hit two to break Maravich’s record, and Iowa led 48-39 at halftime.
The Hawkeyes kept control in the second half, leading by as much as 17 points.
Jacy Sheldon led Ohio State with 24 points. Rebeka Mikulasilova had 14, Taylor Thierry had 11 and McMahon and Celeste Taylor each had 10 points.
Kate Martin added 11 points for Iowa.
BIG PICTURE
Ohio State: There were times when the Buckeyes lost their composure — besides McMahon’s technical foul. Rikki Harris got a technical foul in the second half. Four of Clark’s points came off the techs.
Iowa: The Hawkeyes might have suffered a serious loss for the postseason when guard Molly Davis was injured with 6:42 left in the first half. Davis, who has started 27 games this season and came in averaging 6.3 points per game, fell to the court and grabbed her kn ee. She was carried from the court. Davis played a key role in Iowa’s run to the national championship game last season
UP NEXT
Ohio State: At Big Ten Tournament on Friday
Iowa: At Big Ten Tournament on Friday
