Indiana Women's Basketball Drops Last Regular Season Game to Iowa off Clark's Buzzer Beater
IOWA CITY, Iowa — In its final regular season game, No. 2 Indiana women's basketball fell just one point short to No. 6 Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday afternoon.
With 1.5 seconds to play, Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark hit a three-pointer to earn the 86-85 win after Hoosier junior guard Chloe Moore-McNeil slipped when guarding her.
"Chloe just fell," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "I don't know if she got her foot tangled or if she fell on her own. I think it would have been different if she would have been able to stay on her feet. I think we would have been able to crowd her, 1.5 seconds.
"Cait is an excellent player, and she might have still been able to get it off, but I think it would have been guarded, and so it's unfortunate. It's one of those dumb luck things...but it never comes down to one play."
Iowa's crowd of more than 15,000 certainly played a role in being the sixth player on the floor as fans packed the arena for ESPN College GameDay coverage and of course to witness a ranked matchup between two phenomenal Big Ten teams.
"You call it maturity? I call it absolute toughness," Moren said. "I mean, you have to be able to step up in that moment with that crowd that was so loud today and be calm and knock those shots in."
In Indiana's second loss of the season, four Hoosiers scored in double figures as senior forward Mackenzie Holmes led the way with 21 points followed by junior guards Sydney Parrish and Moore-McNeil's 18 points a piece as the team shot 49.2 percent from the floor and a season-high 94.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Freshman guard Yarden Garzon dominated the boards with a game-high 14 rebounds for a career-high effort from the Ra’anana, Israel native.
Clark ended up with 34 points, one less than her performance last time versus the Hoosiers in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Two other Hawkeyes joined her in double figures as Iowa finished with 51.7 percent shooting from the field.
In the first quarter, graduate student guard Grace Berger hit her signature jump shot, but Iowa clawed back and went on a run leading 10-2 to force a Hoosier timeout just two minutes into play.
The Hawkeyes led by as much as 13 points in the first quarter, but Indiana kept chipping away as Berger hit a bucket and Garzon added a triple to make it a six-point game. Holmes' and-1 opportunity allowed the Hoosiers to come within three.
"We obviously didn't want to dig a deeper hole," Moren said. "It was more about us just settling into the things that we've been good at all year. Now we had a couple of things defensively that happened to us just mishaps, missteps that we had prep for and didn't do a very good job there."
Entering the second frame, Indiana was down five while Parrish did her work attacking the rim, and senior guard Sara Scalia hit a big triple to keep Iowa's lead small.
Across two minutes, Indiana went on an 8-0 run as Berger's jumper gave the Hoosiers back the lead 37-36. It didn't last long as Iowa scored to give itself a one-point lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Iowa increased its lead to seven points, but then Moore-McNeil hit her second triple of the game as the Hoosiers went on another 5-0 run.
Indiana didn't let up on Iowa causing the Hawkeyes to send Holmes to the charity stripe with just over two minutes left on the clock to tie the game. Then, the Big Ten foes traded baskets before Moore-McNeil was sent to the line for a pair.
Holmes drew the foul once again with 1.5 seconds on the clock and advanced the Hoosiers' score to lead by two. Iowa used its timeout and came back in with a buzzer-beating three pointer from Clark to end the regular season.
"I got a sad group in the locker room right now," Moren said. "We weren't able to win the game. I'm disappointed. I know they're disappointed, but we do what we always do, and that is either we feel good or we feel bad for 24 hours, and then we return and we get back to work."
Up next, Indiana will head to Minneapolis, Minn. for the Big Ten Tournament from March 1-5.
Related stories on Indiana women's basketball
- WHAT TERI MOREN SAID ON ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY Read the full transcript of Indiana women's basketball head coach Teri Moren's interview with ESPN's Holly Rowe as part of the Hoosiers' segment on ESPN College GameDay. Indiana will tip off versus Iowa at 2 p.m. ET. CLICK HERE
- HOW TO WATCH INDIANA VS. IOWA ON ESPN COLLEGE GAMEDAY Here's how to watch No. 2 Indiana women's basketball versus No. 6 Iowa in the teams' final regular season game to be featured on ESPN College GameDay live from Carver-Hawkeye Arena this Sunday. CLICK HERE
- HOOSIERS TO FACE IOWA ON THE ROAD Although it doesn't count for anything as the Hoosiers have already clinched the Big Ten regular season title, they will head to Iowa Sunday to try and finish out the regular season strong. ESPN College GameDay will feature the two Big Ten foes. CLICK HERE
