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Iowa's Caitlin Clark stuns No. 2 Indiana with wild buzzer-beater

Caitlin Clark dropped 34 points on Indiana Sunday to give the Hawkeyes the win in Iowa City.

ryan young
Staff writer
·2 min read
61
Iowa guard Caitlin Clark
Caitlin Clark drilled a wild off-balance buzzer-beater to lift Iowa past Indiana on Sunday afternoon. (AP/Charlie Neibergall)

For a second at Carver Hawkeye Arena, it looked like the Hawkeyes were going to lose after falling on the wrong side of a late foul call.

Caitlin Clark said otherwise.

Clark expertly drilled an off-balanced buzzer-beater to lift No. 6 Iowa past No. 2 Indiana 86-85 in what was a thrilling battle on Sunday afternoon in Iowa City.

With just 1.5 seconds left in the game, Clark caught an inbound pass on the wing and sank her 3-pointer over Indiana’s Chloe Moore-McNeil — which sparked a massive celebration.

“Honestly, I thought it was money,” Clark told ESPN’s Holly Rowe after the win.

The national Player of the Year candidate finished just shy of a triple-double in the Hawkeyes' final regular season game. She had 34 points after shooting 12-of-22 from the field, and added nine rebounds and nine assists. The junior entered Sunday averaging 27 points, 7.4 assists and a NCAA-best 8.1 assists per game.

The buzzer-beater came after what was a very late foul call on the other end, which put Indiana in position to grab the win. Indiana forward Mackenzie Holmes, who had a team-high 21 points on the day, drew a foul in the post and sank a pair of free throws that put the Hoosiers up by two points before the final play.

Moore-Mitchell added 18 points for Indiana, and guard Sydney Parrish added 18 points and five rebounds. Grace Berger finished with 16 points and eight assists. The loss marked just Indiana’s second on the season, following a five-point loss to Michigan State in December. The Hoosiers, who had already claimed the Big Ten regular season title, will still take the top-seed into the conference tournament next week.

Kate Martin added 19 points for Iowa after shooting 6-of-9 from the field. Forward Monika Czinano finished with 13 points and nine rebounds. Clark scored or assisted on 56 of Iowa’s 86 points — which was the most Indiana has given up all season — in the win. The Hawkeyes ended the regular season having won 12 of their last 14 games, and will enter the Big Ten tournament next week in Minneapolis as the No. 3 seed.