The Iowa Hawkeyes were back to their best on Saturday afternoon, as they cruised past Colorado, 89-68, in the Sweet 16 of the 2024 NCAA Women's Tournament. Their win sets up a rematch of last year's national championship game against LSU in the Elite Eight on Monday night in Albany, New York.
Aaronette Vonleh made a free throw 11 seconds into the game to give Colorado a 1-0 lead, but Caitlin Clark responded with a layup on the other end and Iowa never trailed again. In fact, once Clark hit another layup in the middle of the second quarter to put the Hawkeyes up by 10, they led by double digits the rest of the way.
This was the Clark that everyone had been waiting to see in this tournament. She finished with 29 points, six rebounds and 15 assists -- a career high in a tournament game -- on 13-of-22 from the field. Since 2000, there have been 11 games in the tournament where a player recorded at least 25 points and 10 assists. Clark now has five of them.
In addition, she extended her 20-point streak to 46 games, recorded her 65th career game with at least 25 points, five rebounds and five assists and tied Diana Taurasi for the most 3-pointers all-time in the NCAA Tournament with 61. About the only thing Clark didn't do against Colorado was record another triple-double.
While Clark was tremendous, she got plenty of help, as all four other starters scored in double figures. As a team, Iowa shot 53.8% from the field and 40.9% from 3-point land.
This is the sixth time that Iowa has advanced to the Elite Eight in program history, and only the second time they have done so in consecutive seasons.