The Guru Report: Clark’s Buzzer-Beating Trey Leading to 40th Point Carries No. 4 Iowa Over Michigan State

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

Reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark’s 23^rd career Big Ten weekly honor was only several hours out of the oven Tuesday night when she was already off and running ahead of the conference competition for next week’s accolades with a deep three-pointer at the buzzer that gave her 40 and No. 4 Iowa a 76-73 victory over Michigan State in front of a sellout home crowd in Carver-Hawkeye in Iowa City.

 

The triumph made it 250 career conference wins for Iowa coach Lisa Bluder as the Hawkeyes are off to their fourth  14-1 start, rising to 3-0 in the Big Ten, the overaal start now twice under Bluder.

 

Clark kept alive her streak of 73 consecutive games making a three-point basket, which is tops in the NCAA.

 

She's the First Division one player to record 3000 plus points, 900 plus assists, and 800 plus rebounds in a career. Michigan State (11-3, 1-2), had won four straight games.

 

“Caitlin has ice in her veins,” Bluder said afterwards. “Everybody knows it.”

 

Another Clark scoring explosion in a game occurred, even though she went more than 14 minutes without a point spanning the second and third quarters.

 

As the final seconds were ticking down on the clock, Hannah  Struelke got the ball to Clark, who hit the game-winning shot from 30 feet from the basket.

 

“Honestly, when it left my hand, I knew it was going in.” Clark said.

 

The Hawks the Hawkeyes win streak is now 11. Struelke added 15 points.

 

Clark had a similar game winner in last year's regular season final against Indiana.

 

“I almost started laughing,” Clark said. “I think everybody was like ‘Oh, thank God, this games over with, we don't have to go to overtime.’

 

“You know, it was ugly, but it was a win and that's what matters at the end of the day.”

 

 Michigan first year coach Robin Fralich thought her team defended the final play well. 

 

“She made a really hard shot,” Fralich said.

 

While Clark's shot may have been difficult, Rutgers, where are the Hawkeyes are headed Friday night in what will be a sellout crowd, is still looking for its first conference win in the early going after Destiny Adams missed a layup at the buzzer that would have put the scarlet Knights on top of Purdue, instead of losing 77-76.

 

The tough ending for Rutgers (6-10, 0-3 Big Ten) ruined a night in which Adams had 23 points and 11 rebounds, while Jillian Huerter (16), Lisa Thompson (16), and Mya Petticord (14) also scored in double figures, and Chyna Cornwell, collected 11 rebounds.

 

Purdue improved to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in the league.

 

While sadness occurred for one of two locals in the Big Ten, joy was in large supply at Penn State, whose first conference win of the season was its largest since 2013, a 95-55 route by the Lady Lions (10-4, 1-2) over visiting Northwestern at home in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College.

 

PSU coach Carolyn Kieger, who previously coached at Marquette, picked up her 150^th career victory in beating the Wildcats (6-8, 1-2).

 

The Lady Lions forced 30 turnovers, which they converted into 42 points.

 

PSU got the job done still without leading scorer Makenna Marisa, who was injured in the overtime loss last month at Ohio State.

 

Ali Brigham shot 7-9 from the field and scored 17 points, while dishing five assists and grabbing four rebounds. Tay Valladay collected 16 points on 60 percent shooting with three assists and three steals, and Shay Ciezki had 15 points, six assists, and five rebounds.

 

Leilani Kapinus was also hot from the field, shooting 6-9 for 14 points, ahead of the rest of the lineup, which all scored.

 

Penn State is off until next Wednesday, when the team will play at nationally ranked Indiana.

 

Temple and La Salle Suffer Conference Setbacks

 

The night didn’t go well for the Big Five combo of Temple and La Salle, the latter unable to extend off Saturday’s American Athletic win and falling to North Texas 74-63, at home in the Liacouras Center, while La Salle’s overall losing streak reached eight games in falling to Davidson 69-50 in an Atlantic Ten game at home in Tom Gola Arena.

 

In Temple’s game, the visiting Mean Green (11-3, 1-1 AAC) soared to a 23-point lead at the close of the third quarter, enough to withstand a rally by the Owls (8-6, 1-1) over the final period in which that differential was cut in half.

 

“A disappointing loss, but I'm more disappointed in our effort,” said temple coach Diane Richardson. “It took us till the middle of the fourth quarter, then we played temple basketball.

 

“We've got to play defense from the very beginning to the end, that's without question.

 

“I thought we didn't make great decisions with our shooting. I think we should have gotten to the rim more. Obviously, they played tough defense and pushed us out a little bit, but we have the ability to get to the rim, our offense helps us get to the rim. We just didn't do that today.”

 

Tiarra East scored 21 for Temple, Aleah Nelson had 20, while Rayne Tucker had 10 points.

 

North Texas (11-3, 1-1) got 20 points and 10 rebounds from Tommisha Lampkin to give the Mean Green their first win in two tries as a new AAC member, coming to town off a loss to another new member at Charlotte, a former rival of Temple when both were in the A-10.

 

The Owls now hit the road a bit, with Saturday’s visit to Tulsa at 3 p.m. on ESPN+ being the first stop.

 

Over at La Salle, the opposition’s win streak reached 10 ruining the A-10 home opener of the Explorers (3-10, 0-2).

 

Davidson (12-1, 2-0 A-10) built an 18-point lead, but La Salle then decided to slow the pace to move within a basket 39-37 with 5:30 left in the third quarter.

 

But then the Wildcats plugged the rally to take the win.

 

La Salle’s Molly Masciantonio had 17 points, including making 4-6 from deep. Makayla Miller scored 12.

 

The Explorers next host Fordham Saturday while Davidson is involved with one of many league showdowns in hosting VCU.

 

Looking Ahead: Four local games Wednesday feature a pair of Big Five teams in key conference clashes as Saint Joseph’s looks to keep rolling hosting George Washington at 7 p.m. (ESPN+) in an A-10 matchup at Hagan Arena while Villanova is at Seton Hall at the same time (FloHoops) in the Big East at Walsh Gym in South Orange, N.J.

 

In the Patriot League, both at 6 p.m. on ESPN+, Lehigh hosts American U. in Stabler Arena in Bethlehem while Lafayette goes to West Point, N.Y. to play Army. Both games are part of opening night in the conference.

 

Nationally, the Big 12 has a clash of unbeatens as No. 23 TCU visits No. 6 Baylor, the Bears at 8 p.m. on ESPN+ debuting in their new arena in Waco, Texas.

 

In the Big East, a meeting of ranked teams at 7 p.m. has No. 12 Connecticut at No. 21 Creighton on SNY in Omaha, Nebraska, while No. 19 Marquette is at St. Johns in Queens, N.Y., on FloHoops.

 

And that’s the report.