Caitlin Clark nears triple-double in first-round NCAA Tournament win over Holy Cross

People were scratching their heads after the first quarter of the Iowa vs. Holy Cross game. The Hawkeyes were up by only two points 32-21 and yes it was only the first quarter, but no one was expecting that.

Things changed for the better in the second half as Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes outscored the Crusaders 25-9 to go up by 18 at halftime. Things got scrappy in the first half as Clark took an elbow to the face early in the game.

After review, Bronagh Power-Cassidy was given an intentional foul. I will let you all decide, but I think that was definitely intentional and maybe Holy Cross was trying to send a message.

After the Hawkeyes were able to settle in and knocked off some of the rust it was smooth sailing from there. Clark was just two rebounds away from a triple-double as she scored 27 points, below her season average, and 10 assists.

It seemed as though Clark was still struggling from beyond the arc hitting just three 3-pointers on nine attempts. The team as a whole went 10 for 32 from beyond the arc so something needs to be figured out.

A bright spot for the Hawkeyes was Addison O'Grady who scored 14 points off the bench along with five rebounds all in just 14 minutes. The Hawkeyes were great on the glass out-rebounding the Crusader 50 to 37 with 16 offensive rebounds and a killer 34 defensive rebounds.

All in all, the Hawkeyes made it out of the first round with a strong 91-65 win and will move on to the second round where they await the winner of West Virginia and Princeton.

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