Iowa’s women’s basketball team had its biggest test of the young 2023–24 season on Thursday night, as the No. 3 Hawkeyes took on No. 8 Virginia Tech in the highly anticipated Ally Tipoff.
Fortunately, Caitlin Clark was her usual dominant self, and helped carry Iowa to a narrow 80–76 victory.
Clark led the charge offensively with 44 points, just shy of her career high of 46. She had the green light to shoot at will, knocking down 13-of-31 field goal attempts, which accounted for more than 45% of the Hawkeyes’ total shots.
The senior made five threes in the win, while corralling eight rebounds and adding six assists with just one turnover.
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Daily Cover: Caitlin Clark’s Amazing Iowa Journey Continues
The game at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center drew a crowd of more than 15,000 as Clark and the Hawkeyes battled the Hokies, who were a fellow Final Four team from last season.
Thursday night’s tilt was Iowa’s second game of the season after having taken down Fairleigh Dickinson 102–46 in their season opener on Monday.
Evidently, Clark needed minimal time to shake off the offseason rust. After putting up 28 points in a double-double performance across 24 minutes in the first game of the year, she followed it up on Thursday with a scoring tally she’s only bested twice in her career.