MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The No. 2 seed Iowa dropped No. 4 seed Ohio State, 105-72, to become Big Ten Champions for the second consecutive year on Sunday afternoon in front of a record crowd inside the Target Center.
National Player of the Year Candidate Caitlin Clark led Iowa with the first triple-double in Big Ten Tournament Championships history, finishing with 30 points, 17 assists, and 10 rebounds. Monika Czinano went 11-for-12 from the field to finish with 26 points and seven rebounds. Kate Martin had 13 points, and Sydney Affolter finished with 11.
The Hawkeyes started out hot, shooting 83 percent from the field, with five players contributing to the scorebook. Clark had a quarter-high 11 points, and Czinano went 4-for-4 from the field. Iowa went on a 20-2 run over the last 5:45 of the first quarter to erase a 7-6 deficit and led 26-9 after the first 10 minutes. They made nine straight field goals during the run. Ohio State was not able to answer, only making one of its last 10 field goals in the first quarter.
Iowa scored 35 points in the second quarter, to take a, 61-24, lead at halftime. Clark and Czinano had a combined 23 points, and eight of the 12 team’s rebounds.
McKenna Warnock finished a driving layup to end a, 6-0, scoring run from Ohio State to put Iowa back up by 33. From there, The Hawkeyes kept control the rest of the quarter to head into the fourth quarter with a comfortable 29-point lead.
A, 6-0 scoring run from the Hawkeyes solidified the game and gave them their second consecutive Big Ten Tournament Championship.
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
• Clark, Czinano, and Marshall were named to the Big Ten All-Tournament Team.
• Clark was tabbed as the BTT MVP.
• Gabbie Marshall has hit 27 of her last 44 3-point attempts over the last 10 games.
• Iowa has played in four out of the five Big Ten Tournament titles.
• It was the most points Iowa has scored against a Big Ten opponent in school history, and it is believed to be the most in a first half in Big Ten Tournament history.
• Iowa broke the record for most points in a BTT Championship game and it was the largest margin of victory as well.
• Clark broke the Big Ten Tournament record for career assists.
• First time Iowa has won the Big Ten Tournament in back-to-back seasons in program history.
• Clark eclipsed 2,500 career points at the University of Iowa, only the second player in school history to do so.
• It was Iowa’s sixth Big Ten Tournament title and fourth with Lisa Bluder at the helm.
• It was the highest attended game in Big Ten Tournament history. (9,505)
• Clark extended her streak of scoring in double figures an astounding 85 games, which is a NCAA Division I best.
• Clark has netted a 3-point basket in 51 straight games. She has hit at least one 3-pointer in 94 career games.
• Clark is the only player in the nation with more than 840 points, 230 rebounds, 250 assists, and 45 steals this season.
• Iowa has now tallied five Big Ten Tournament championships in program history o It is the Hawkeyes’ second consecutive championship, and Iowa has now won three of the last five Big Ten Tournament titles (2019, 2022 and 2023).
• Iowa’s 33-point margin of victory was the largest in a Big Ten Tournament championship game and tied the second-largest in any tournament game (record is 34 by Iowa in an 87-53 win over Indiana in a 1997 semifinal)
• Iowa set a Big Ten Tournament Championship Game record with 105 points and the third-most in tournament history (most in regulation). The only higher scoring teams played in the same game — Indiana defeated Michigan State, 111-109 in four overtimes on March 1, 2018, in Indianapolis.
• The Hawkeyes scored a season-high 61 points in the first half, which is believed to be a Big Ten Tournament record for points in the first half (further research pending).
• Iowa’s .621 field-goal percentage (36-58) tied the Big Ten Tournament record. Ohio State shot the exact same percentage against Penn State on March 7, 2014.
• Monika Czinano set a Big Ten Tournament record for field goal percentage, going 11-of-12 (.917) to surpass the previous mark of .909 (10-11) set by Purdue’s Drey Mingo against Michigan State on March 10, 2013.
• Head coach Lisa Bluder earns her fourth Big Ten Tournament title (2001, 2019, 2022, 2023), second only to current Maryland head coach Brenda Frese’s five championships. Bluder also has earned a tournament record 29 victories during her career.
• Iowa made 31 three-point baskets during this year’s tournament, tied for the most in Big Ten Tournament history. The Hawkeyes also made 31 triples in 2021, as did Ohio State in 2020.
• Caitlin Clark set a Big Ten Tournament career record with 78 career assists in her 10 tournament games to date (2021-23). The previous record was held by Samantha Prahalis of Ohio State (67 assists in 11 games from 2009-12).
• Clark set a Big Ten Tournament championship game record with 17 assists (previous was 11 on two occasions) and tied the record with five made three-pointers (done four other times).
• The 17 assists were also the second-most in a Big Ten Tournament game (trailing only Nebraska’s Rachel Theriot who had 18 assists vs. Minnesota on March 7, 2014. o Clark’s 30 assists in this year’s tournament tied for third (Clark holds the record with 37 assists in 2021).
• Clark’s triple-double is the third in Big Ten Tournament history and first in the championship game (as well as the first to feature assists as a component). Coincidentally, all three Big Ten Tournament triple-doubles have come against Ohio State. o Janel McCarville, Minnesota vs. Ohio State, 3/5/04 (23 points/11 rebounds/10 steals) o Amanda Zahui B., Minnesota vs. Ohio State, 3/6/15 (25 points/11 rebounds/11 blocks) o Caitlin Clark, Iowa vs. Ohio State, 3/5/23 (30 points/10 rebounds/17 assists)
• Clark now has a Big Ten-record 10 career triple-doubles (second-most in NCAA history behind Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu who had 26 from 2016-20) and an NCAA-best four this season (second-most in conference history behind her five last year).
• Gabbie Marshall’s 13 three-pointers were third-most in one Big Ten Tournament, two shy of the record set by Penn State’s Kelly Mazzante in 2002.
• Over the past nine games, Gabbie Marshall has gone 61.3 percent from behind the arc hitting 27 of 44 during the stretch.
• Clark and Marshall accounted for 26 three-point conversions during the Big Ten Tournament.
QUOTING P. SUE BECKWITH, MD, HEAD COACH LISA BLUDER
“I’m just so proud of this team. I knew all year long, we’ve stuck together, we’ve tried to get better every day in practice. We’ve kept the focus. We have some stars, but honestly everybody — like yesterday five people in double figures on this team, and that’s when we’re at our very best. Second quarter might be the best quarter of basketball that I’ve seen or been a part of in a long time. To win back-to-back championships, so hard to do in this league. This is an amazing league. Great coaches, great players. Just feel really, really thankful that we have this opportunity today to win this again.”
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