No. 7-seeded Penn State women’s basketball (19-12, 10-10 Big Ten) lost to No. 2-seeded Iowa (27-4, 16-3 Big Ten) 95-62 in the quarterfinal round of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament. The Lady Lions were no match for the Hawkeyes and all-time NCAA scoring leader Caitlin Clark, who rode multiple large scoring runs to pull out the victory.

Clark finished with 24 points and added 10 rebounds and seven assists. For Penn State, Ashley Owusu and Leilani Kapinus led the way, as Owusu contributed 18 points and six rebounds while Kapinus scored 19 points and tacked on five rebounds.

How It Happened

The Hawkeyes wasted no time getting points on the board as Kate Martin drilled a three on the first shot of the game. After a miss by Owusu on the other end, Iowa drilled another three by way of Sydney Affolter.

Iowa continued to grow its lead with Hannah Stuelke scoring her first two points via a pair of free throws. After three missed shots on one possession by Penn State, Stuelke drilled her first field goal of the game to make the score 10-0 for the Hawkeyes and forced head coach Carolyn Kieger to call an early timeout.

After the break, Kapinus drilled a three to open the scoring for the Lady Lions, and Owusu followed up with a layup to cut the deficit to five. However, the Hawkeyes went on another huge run to increase their lead.

Affolter followed Owusu’s layup with one of her own, also earning the foul call, and made the free throw to finish the three-point play. Gabbie Marshall and Kylie Feuerbach then drilled back-to-back three-pointers to make it 19-5 in favor of Iowa.

Kapinus made a layup to end the 9-0 run, but Clark finally entered the scorebook by drilling a pair of free throws. Owusu answered that with a mid-range jumper, and Grace Hall drilled another to cut the deficit to 11, but Iowa kept scoring.

The Hawkeyes’ next seven points came from free throws from four different players, extending their lead to 16. As the final minute of the first quarter began to tick down, Clark found Martin open for a turnaround jumper with five seconds remaining. Owusu was unable to get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, ending the first quarter with Iowa leading 31-13.

The second quarter started well for Penn State as Kapinus drilled two free throws and Makena Marisa hit her first shot of the game. Kapinus scored once again on a layup to cut it to a 12-point deficit.

As the second quarter went on, the Lady Lions prevented Iowa from scoring, and the Hawkeyes missed their first seven shots of the quarter. After over five minutes without points for Iowa, Clark finally ended the drought with a stepback jumper.

Ali Brigham answered Clark with a layup on the other end, and after Clark missed a three, Owusu hit an and-one layup and free throw to make it 33-24.

With just over four minutes to play in the half, Iowa made another huge run. Affolter started things off with a layup, and Clark kept it going with a pair of free throws. Marshall followed that up with a long three, and Clark drilled another pair of free throws. Feuerbach continued the run with a layup to give Iowa a 20-point lead.

Owusu ended the 11-0 run with a turnaround jumper with just over a minute left, but Stuelke got the two points back with a pair of free throws. As the final minute ticked off, both teams were unable to get another shot to fall, as the two squads went into the half with Iowa leading 46-26.

At the start of the second half, Kapinus drilled her first three of the half, but Marshall answered her with a three of her own on the following possession. Brigham hit her first shot of the half but was quickly answered by Clark who hit an and-one layup and free throw.

Down 21, Shay Ciezki drilled her first three of the contest, although Martin drilled a jumper on the following possession. Penn State then went a small run of its own. It started with an alley-oop layup by Kapinus and a three-pointer by Marisa. After misses by both teams, Ciezki hit a pull-up jumper to make it 54-41, forcing Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder to call a timeout.

After the timeout, Taylor McCabe drilled a three to end the 7-0 Penn State run. Chanaya Pinto missed on the other end for the Lady Lions, and McCabe tallied another three to get the lead for Iowa back to 19.

Owusu drilled a three and Ciezki hit a pair of free throws to make it 60-46, but Iowa didn’t stop the attack. Affolter notched a triple, and Martin hit a layup to get the lead back to 19 for Iowa once again. With the third quarter winding down, Owusu hit a stepback jumper. Both teams were unable to get another shot to fall, and Iowa went into the final quarter up 65-48.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Iowa kept the scoring going with Martin hitting a layup and Clark drilling a long three-pointer to increase the lead to 22. Jayla Oden hit one of two free throws for Penn State, but Marshall hit a jumper on the other to increase the lead for the Hawkeyes once again.

After a media break, Clark knocked down another layup, got the and-one call once again, and hit the free throw to finish the three-point play. Owusu knocked down a jumper on the other end but was answered with a three from Affolter.

Kapinus and Marisa hit layups, but the three-pointers from Iowa kept falling as Marshall hit another triple. Affolter was fouled and hit both free throws, but Oden hit a three for Penn State.

While one three is good, Iowa wanted more, and Clark and McCabe nailed back-to-back triples to extend the lead to 31. Clark was fouled and hit both free throws, and shortly after, was taken out of the game.

Kapinus and McCabe traded threes, and both teams began to finish off the final minutes of the game. Iowa eventually dribbled out the clock and won 95-62.

Takeaways

• It was an overall ugly performance for the Lady Lions. On top of letting up 95 points to the Hawkeyes, the three-point shooting by Penn State was the downfall. The Lady Lions shot an abysmal 7-for-33 from beyond the arc (21.2%) and an even worse 1-for-13 (7.7%) in the first half alone.
• Kapinus was impressive for the Lady Lions as she finished with a team-high 19 points and five rebounds. While her performance was noteworthy, the rest of the team failed to contribute any sort of offense, causing the game to get out of hand quickly.
• While a bid to the NCAA Tournament is still in play for the Lady Lions, this loss and the six-game losing streak the team suffered during February will likely prevent Penn State from returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

What’s Next?

The Lady Lions will wait to find out if they will make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team or if they are destined for the WNIT. The bracket for the tournament is set to be revealed at 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 17, on ESPN.