Story By: Erin Zollars
Photos By: Sol Tucker
College Park, MD–
It’s hard to really say how big of a battle this game versus the Hawkeyes was tonight at Xfinity Center, but it all started with a sellout crowd waiting outside as much as 2.5 hours before the doors opened to see Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes come to College Park.
Iowa came into this game winless against the Terps in Big Ten play, but this game was way different the previous seasons. While the Terps have had their share of struggles in the Big Ten this season, they are a much better team of late and that was shown late tonight as they erased two large leads by the Hawkeyes in the second half, but ultimately fell after an epic battle, 93-85.
Maryland’s Jakia Brown-Turner scored 25 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and Bri McDaniel added 22. This may have been a breakout game for Turner, who has scored 20 plus points in each game dating back to the game against Illinois on January 20th. The 25 points also tied a career that came previously all the way back in the 2020-21 season against UNC where she also had 25 points before transferring to Maryland.
The Hawkeyes (21-2, 10-1 Big Ten) won at Maryland for the first time since December 1992, when the Terps were in the ACC.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been happy in this press room,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said afterward.
The difference in the game tonight wasn’t just Clark. Molly Davis scored 17 points for Iowa, and Kate Martin had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Clark talked about how valuable a player like Davis is to this team and she made a huge difference in this game tonight.
“Caitlin did natural Caitlin things, which are spectacular, but I thought Molly Davis really had a great game as well,” Bluder said.
The Terps were up 65-63 before Iowa outscored them 10-1 the rest of the quarter. Clark made a 3-pointer and a layup and also assisted on two layups during that run.
After the game Terps Head Coach Brenda Frese applauded the effort by her team tonight under the tough circumstances.
“This game felt like March,” Frese said. “Just super proud of this group and how we competed with the No. 3 team in the country, with the best player in the country. There’s no doubt that we’re an NCAA Tournament team.”
Some of the 17,950 fans tonight have been coming to games across the country and trying to take in every game they can before she becomes the all-time NCAA scorer.
Clark now has 3,462 points. Plum scored 3,527 at Washington from 2013-17. Former Kansas star Lynette Woodard holds the women’s major college basketball record with 3,649 points from 1978-81 before the NCAA took over women’s sports from the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
