IOWA CITY, Iowa — Caitlin Clark struggled to make shots early, but finished with 27 points and 10 assists as Iowa defeated Holy Cross 91-65 in a women’s NCAA tournament first-round game Saturday.
Kate Martin also had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Hawkeyes (30-4), the top seed in the Albany 2 Regional. Iowa advanced to Monday’s second round to face either eighth seed West Virginia or ninth seed Princeton.
Clark, a unanimous Associated Press All-American selection, was just 8 of 19 from the field, 3 of 9 in 3-pointers, showing her frustration with missed shots multiple times during the game.
She was constantly complaining to officials and at one point cameras caught her dad Brent telling her to stop.
“I should probably smile more. I’m a competitor,” said Clark, who even headbutted the basketball during the game in frustration. “I love this game. I’m a perfectionist.”
Clark finished with her 65th career double-double, and added eight rebounds.
She got off to a slow start and didn’t make her first field goal until 22 seconds were left in the first quarter. She committed five turnovers in the first eight minutes.
Iowa had a similar start. The Hawkeyes had a 10-0 run midway through the first quarter that didn’t bother the Crusaders, who were within 23-21 at the end of the quarter.
The Hawkeyes then outscored Holy Cross 25-9 in the second quarter, holding the Crusaders to just 1 of 12 shooting. Clark finally got her first 3-pointer with 3:26 left in the first half, shaking her head and rolling her eyes after making the shot.
Holy Cross (21-13) made 12 3-pointers in Thursday’s 72-45 First Four win over UT-Martin, but were just 7 of 34 in 3-pointers in this game, with only three in the second half. The Crusaders, who missed their first 10 shots of the fourth quarter, shot just 32.4% from the field.
Addison O’Grady had 14 points and Gabbie Marshall had 11 for the Hawkeyes. Iowa had a 50-37 rebounding edge despite starting forward Hannah Stuelke, the team’s second leading rebounder, playing just 10 minutes.
Bronagh Power-Cassidy had 19 points for Holy Cross. Janelle Allen had 18.
UP NEXT: Iowa: Second round on Monday against either West Virginia or Princeton.
Fair returns from injury to lead No. 6 seed Syracuse to a 74-69 win over Arizona
STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Syracuse star Dyaisha Fair scored 32 points, including 13 after she returned from a second-half injury, to lead the Orange to a 74-69 come-from behind win over No. 11 seed Arizona in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament on Saturday.
The third team All-American scored all of her team’s points during a game-winning run that began with the Orange trailing 66-61 with 3:16 left. Alyssa Latham added 10 points for Syracuse (24-7).
Skyler Jones had 24 points while Jada Williams and Helena Pueyo each added 14 for Arizona (18-16).
The Wildcats led by as many as nine points in the first half at 31-22 after a 3-pointer from Williams. But Fair scored five points in the final 41 seconds of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 37-32 at intermission.
Syracuse kept chipping away at the Arizona lead and a steal and fast-break layup by Fair tied the game at 51.
The fifth-year guard went down hard after driving into Arizona’s Isis Beh on the final play of the third quarter. She lay on the floor for several minutes and had to be carried into the locker room without putting any weight on her legs.
Kennedi Perkins jump shot to open the fourth quarter gave the Orange their first lead at 53-51.
Fair emerged from the locker room to cheers just over two minutes into the quarter and was back on the court a short time later.
But Arizona fought back. They went up 64-59 on a layup by Breya Cunningham and led 66-61 before Fair took over.
Her 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:17 left gave the Orange a 68-66 lead.
An offensive foul on Arizona’s Jones gave the ball to Syracuse, and the Orange never gave back the lead,
Big picture
Arizona: The Wildcats earned the right to play in this game by beating Auburn in a First Four matchup on Thursday. They never trailed in that game and forced 23 Auburn turnovers.
Syracuse: Fair’s 32 points are a school record for the NCAA Tournament. This is the Orange’s 13th appearance, but first since 2021.
Up next
Syracuse faces UConn on Monday night. The Huskies beat Jackson State 86-64 in Saturday’s first game in Storrs.