Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament: Iowa 69, Purdue 58
On Friday night, Purdue fell to No. 2 seed Iowa in the quarterfinals of the 2023 Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament in Minneapolis. The 69-58 loss comes a day after Jayla Smith hit a game-winner to beat Wisconsin and advance Purdue past the second round.
National Player of the Year candidate Caitlin Clark got going from the opening tip, knocking down a deep three on the game's first possession. Purdue's Caitlyn Harper responded shortly after with an early layup after being held scoreless in the Boilermakers' win yesterday.
Clark and Monika Czinano showed why they were both Big Ten First Team selections early as they combined for 11 of Iowa's first 13 points of the game. Czinano was featured on the post in the first five minutes of the game, starting her night 3-3 from the field and controlling the paint. The star duo led Iowa to a 15-6 lead at the 3:00 mark of the first quarter.
The Boilermakers had another tough start to the game offensively, shooting just 4-16 from the field, including 0-7 from three-point range. When Purdue struggled in the first quarter against Wisconsin, Abbey Ellis helped keep the offense afloat. Jeanae Terry took that role today and scored six of Purdue's ten first-quarter points.
Terry hit two free throws, and last night's hero Jayla Smith scored immediately after entering the game to bring the lead back to seven. Then, Hannah Stuelke hit a layup with 1:51 left in the first quarter to put Iowa back ahead by 9. After Stuelke's bucket, neither team scored for the remainder of the quarter.
Similar to yesterday's battle with Wisconsin, Purdue nearly let the game get out of hand early in the second quarter. Rickie Woltman got the scoring going for Purdue with an early layup in the second quarter before the Hawkeyes' started to warm up.
Iowa's Gabbie Marshall entered the matchup shooting 58% from three-point range over her last three games, and continued that streak against the Boilermakers. Marshall hit her first three after Woltman's bucket to make it a 25-14 Hawkeyes lead. Woltman and Marshall then traded scores again, with Marshall's three giving Iowa its biggest lead of the half at 11.
After Marshall's second three of the half, Purdue locked in defensively. The Boilermakers did not allow a field goal over the final 6:28 of the first half.
Purdue's offense caught up to the defense after Caitlyn Harper knocked down a three, and Jayla Smith followed it up on the next possession with a putback bucket. The Boilermakers cut the Iowa lead to four with 3:50 remaining in the half. After trading free throws, neither team made a field goal for the rest of the half after Smith's layup.
Iowa entered tonight averaging a nation-leading 87.5 points per game but was held to under 30 by the Boilermakers' suffocating defense. Purdue also locked down the paint, swatting away six Iowa shots in the first half. Reverse forwards Ava Learn, and Rickie Woltman each had a pair of blocks in the first 20 minutes.
Purdue closed the first half on an 11-4 run, thanks in part to the play of its supporting cast. The Boilermakers' top two scorers, Lasha Petree and Abbey Ellis, combined for two points on 0-8 shooting from the field in the first half.
Jeanae Terry and Jayla Smith both had six points, while Rickie Woltman pitched in four, and Caitlyn Harper had five to help pick up the slack. After her heroics in the second round, Smith rode the hot streak against the Hawkeyes. She scored a team-high 16 points and added five rebounds for the Boilermakers.
After Czinano opened the second half with a post-up score, the Boilermakers found their groove offensively. Cassidy Hardin hit just the second three-pointer of the game for Purdue to cut the lead to three.
Abbey Ellis followed suit as she connected on another three for her first field goal of the game, tying the game at 31-31. Ellis also eclipsed the 1,500 career points mark with the bucket. Hardin, who become the program's all-time leader in games played, hit her second three in the span of two minutes as Purdue secured its first lead of the game at the 6:38 mark of the third quarter.
After trailing for the first time, Caitlin Clark drove to the basket and got an and-one to go down, giving Iowa a 36-34 lead. That began a 10-3 run for the Hawkeyes as they extended the lead the seven with 3:38 to go in the third quarter. Madison Layden snapped the Hawkeye run after knocking down a pair of free throws, and Purdue headed into the fourth quarter down five.
Despite taking a brief lead, the Boilermakers' struggles returned in the latter half of the third quarter. Purdue ended the quarter shooting just 31% from the field and missed their last four three-point field goal attempts.The top-ranked Hawkeyes showed why they are a National Championship contender in the fourth quarter, breaking away from the upset-minded Boilermakers.
Back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year award winner Caitlin Clark caught fire and scored 12 fourth-quarter points to help the Hawkeyes keep Purdue out of reach. Iowa began the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run behind a pair of buckets from Clark, with Czinano and Kate Martin each scoring as well. The run gave the Hawkeyes a 15-point advantage with 5:32 to play.
Purdue could not keep up with the nation's top offense in the final frame, as they shot 36% from the field while the Hawkeyes were a red-hot 69%, behind Clark and Warnock combining for 19 points on 7-8 shooting.
The loss knocks Purdue out of the Big Ten Women's Basketball Tournament in the quarterfinal round. The Boilermakers now await Selection Sunday, on March 12th, at 8:00 p.m. to see their postseason plans. Katie Gearlds led the program to a 19-10 record in her second year at the helm and could be headed back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2016.