POSTGAME NOTES

– No. 5/6 Iowa (5-1, 0-0) defeated Purdue Fort Wayne (2-2, 0-0), 98-59, inside Hertz Arena on Friday night.

– Caitlin Clark recorded 29 points (8-13 FG, 6-9 3 FG), eight assists, three rebounds, and three steals.

– Gabbie Marshall became the first Iowa women’s basketball player to record 200 3-pointers and 200 steals in a career.

– Clark’s six assists in the first quarter ties for second-most by an individual in a quarter in Iowa WBB history. It marks the fifth time in her career she has recorded six or more assists in a quarter.

– Clark recorded a season-high six 3-pointers made.

– Clark has netted a 3-point basket in 64 consecutive games which is an NCAA-best.

– Lisa Bluder is one win shy of 500 career wins at the University of Iowa.

– Sharon Goodman recorded her second-highest point total of the season. (16)

– Goodman has shot 60%+ from the floor in five out of six games this year.

– Hannah Stuelke has netted double figures in four out of six games this season.

– Kate Martin was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor. Martin had nine points, five rebounds, three assists, and three blocks.

– Martin ties her career high for blocks in a game stating three.

– Stuelke nearly reached her first double-double of the season with 13 points and eight rebounds.

– Since the start of the 2020-21 season, the Hawkeyes offense has scored 80+ points on 82 occasions which is the most nationally.

– The Hawkeyes have scored 90+ points on 39 occasions which is also an NCAA-best since 2020-21.

UP NEXT

The fifth-ranked Hawkeyes advance to the semifinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase taking on FGCU on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. (CT) inside a Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida. The contest will air on FloHoops (subscription required) and the Hawkeye Radio Network.

KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Iowa State (5-1, 0-0 Big 12) was unable to overcome a double-digit point deficit, falling to Virginia Tech (5-1, 0-0 ACC) on Friday night in the ESPN Events Invitational by a score of 71-62.

After dropping its first contest of the 2023-24 season, ISU will now compete in the third-place game against No. 12 Texas A&M on Sunday.

Va Tech controlled the momentum for the majority of the contest, holding the advantage for 29 minutes as the Hokies went on to advance to the title game.

Iowa State was led in the scoring department by freshman Milan Momcilovic, who poured in a career-high 21 points on the day. Tre King and Tamin Lipsey joined Momcilovic in double figures, as Lipsey added 18 while King totaled 10. Both King and Robert Jones had a team-high seven rebounds, while Lipsey and Keshon Gilbert had four assists a piece.

The Hokies had four in double figures, led by its starting backcourt Hunter Cattoor (18) and Sean Pedulla (17). Lynn Kidd and Tyler Nickel rounded out Va Tech’s top performers. Pedulla had a game-high five 3-pointers while both Cattoor and Nickel had three.

How It Happened

After a back-and-forth opening 13 minutes of action, the Hokies grabbed the lead at 7:24 in the first half and never looked back, holding the advantage for the remainder of the game.

VT pushed its lead to as large as 12, but a R. Jones dunk at the buzzer brought the Hokie lead back to 10 before the buzzer sounded. Momcilovic had a game-high 13 at the half.

Iowa State came out swinging in the second half, cutting the lead to six after a pair of Momcilovic free throws and a R. Jones dunk, but the Hokies had the answer, pushing their lead back to 11 before the under-16.

VT was able to keep the Cyclones at arm’s length until about the 10-minute mark, when ISU cut the lead back to five and eventually down to two at the 8:44 mark after a big-time King slam.

Again the Hokies had a counterpunch, pushing the lead back to eight like that. Iowa State had one final push, trimming the lead to just two at the 4:35 mark off a Curtis Jones 3-pointer.

Va Tech had one final answer, holding the Cyclone rally off and winning its fifth game of the season, using timely shooting from Cattoor and Pedulla to earn a nine-point win.

Top Performers

Momcilovic had arguably his best game as a Cyclone on Friday, as the rookie from Pewaukee dropped a personal best 21 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, knocking down three triples in a team-high 35 minutes of action.

Notes

• Tre King is five points short of 200 in his ISU career.
• Keshon Gilbert recorded his 100th career steal on Friday, nabbing two steals to place him at the century mark.
• Robert Jones eclipsed 750 career points on the night, using five points to push his career total to 752.
• Milan Momcilovic dropped a career-high 21 points.
  • He now has outings of 17, 18 and 21 points on the year.

What’s Next

The Cyclones will wrap up the ESPN Events Invitational on Sunday, Nov. 26, when they match up with former Big 12 foe, No. 12 Texas A&M, in the third-place game. Iowa State and the Aggies are set to tip off at 5:30 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Katie Dinnebier’s career-high 27 points carried the Drake women’s basketball team to a 77-66 victory over Louisiana Tech at the Knapp Center on Friday afternoon in the opening game of the Bulldogs’ Vibrant Thanksgiving Classic.

Dinnebier sparked two key spurts when the Bulldogs (4-1) needed a lift in topping her previous best of 24 points, which she had reached twice. The 5-foot-8 junior finished 8-for-13 from the field – seven driving layups and a 3-pointer – sank all 10 of her free throws, handed out four assists and made four steals.

Grace Berg added 21 points, including 16 in the second half, when Drake outscored the Lady Techsters 44-29 in taking control of the game. A graduate senior, Berg passed Maddy Dean and Erin Richards to move into 25^th place on Drake’s career scoring list with 1,340 points.

Berg made 7-of-11 shots from the field with a 3-pointer and knocked down all six of her free throws. Anna Miller also reached double figures for the Bulldogs, finishing with 12 points, six rebounds and three blocks.

The Bulldogs were looking for a bounce-back victory after their loss at then-No. 2 Iowa last Sunday and they got it, though they had to work for it against an aggressive Louisiana Tech bunch.

The Lady Techsters, whose rich history includes 13 Final Four appearances and three national championships, took early leads of 7-2 and 10-4 as the Bulldogs missed shots and surrendered a handful of turnovers.

Drake eventually pulled to a 20-16 lead on consecutive baskets by Dinnebier and freshman Shannon Fornshell, but the Bulldogs went scoreless over the first 3 1/2 minutes of the second quarter and the Lady Techsters ran off 11 straight points for a 29-20 lead.  Fornshell buried a 3 from the top of the key to end the drought, but Tech came right back with six straight for a 35-23 lead.

That’s when Dinnebier took over the first time, accounting for all the points in a 10-2 run that drew Drake to 37-33 at halftime. She sank two free throws, fed Berg for a backdoor layup, then scored the final six points of the half, the last coming when she stole the ball and beat the halftime buzzer for a layup.

The Lady Techsters got the lead up to 46-39 midway through the third quarter before Dinnebier and the Bulldogs struck again. Katie scored six points and Berg had four in a 12-0 spurt that lifted Drake into a 51-46 lead. The Bulldogs led the rest of the way.

Drake stretched the lead to 70-59 when Dinnebier drove for yet another bucket to cap a 6-0 run. The Bulldogs then finished it off by making 7-of-8 free throws, Dinnebier sinking the last four.

This was Drake’s fourth meeting with Louisiana Tech but the first since Jan. 19, 1988. Louisiana Tech won the three previous. Anna Larr Roberson, Robyn Lee and Silvia Nativi scored 14 points each to lead the Lady Techsters.

Drake shot 62.5 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game while holding Tech to 38.7 percent shooting.

“[Louisiana Tech] a really good team,” Suzie Glazer Burt Head Coach Allison Pohlman said. “I thought we would’ve had a few more opportunities on the glass, but they really locked us up. We showed a lot of growth, especially down the stretch managing the game. Katie [Dinnebier] was ready [for the challenge]. Our transition game in the second half and points in the paint were great. We finished really well, and continue to grow.”

The Bulldogs will play again at 2 p.m. Saturday, meeting Richmond. They’ll finish play in the weekend event against Maine at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Game Notables

• Iowa improves to 3-1 all-time against Seton Hall, including posting wins in back-to-back years.
• The win is head coach Fran McCaffery’s 265th as Iowa’s head coach, seven wins shy of becoming the winningest coach in school history.
• Junior Payton Sandfort scored a season-high 22 points and went 7-of-14 from the field, including four 3-pointers.  He also had a team-high nine rebounds.
  • He was named to the Rady Children’s Invitational All-Tournament team.
  • It is his second 20-point game of the season and the ninth of his career.
  • It is Sandfort’s second game this season with four or more 3-pointers and the eighth such game of his career.
• Graduate Ben Krikke scored 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting, making a season-high 80 percent of his attempts.  He also tied for the team lead with five assists.
  • He has been in double figures in every game this season.
  • Krikke has shot at least 60 percent from the field in four games.
• The Hawkeyes had at least four players reach double figures for the fifth time in six games – Sandfort, Krikke, Tony Perkins (14), Patrick McCaffery (10).
• Iowa shot a season-high 56.4 percent from the floor, making 31-of-55 field goals.
  • It is the fourth time this season the team has shot at least 50 percent.
• Iowa finished with 20 assists on its 31 field goals.  It’s fourth game with at least 20 assists.
• Iowa shot 60 percent from the field in the first half, making 18-of-30 field goals.  It is the team’s best shooting first half of the season and second-best overall shooting half (61.8 – second half vs. North Dakota).
  • Krikke and Perkins scored 17 of Iowa’s first 22 points in the game… Iowa led 15-4 over first five minutes and by as many as 18 (36-18) in the first half.
• The Hawkeyes limited Seton Hall to 27.5 percent (11-of-40) in the first half – the lowest shooting half of the season.  The Pirates missed 11 straight shots for a 6 ½ minute stretch in the opening 20 minutes.
  • Seton Hall had a 36.0 field goal percentage this season, the second lowest by an opponent.

Up Next

Iowa returns to action Wednesday, hosting North Florida at 8 p.m. (CT) on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.  The game will be televised on BTN.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Iowa State (2-2, 0-0 Big 12) fell to unbeaten Vanderbilt (6-0, 0-0 SEC) on Friday afternoon in its first game at the South Point Shootout. Despite a 12-point halftime deficit, the Cyclones worked to get back within 43-40 at the end of the third quarter but were limited to 13 fourth-quarter points while the Commodores made 10-of-11 free throws to close out the contest.

Audi Crooks led the Cyclones with 14 points, finishing 6-of-9 from the floor, while Addy Brown chipped in 11 points with five rebounds and three assists.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Iowa State and Vanderbilt traded baskets through most of the first quarter until an 8-0 run gave the Cyclones a 12-9 advantage in the final minute of the period. Isnelle Natabou put the Cyclones on the board following a Vandy triple, and Addy Brown hit her first basket of the night on a step back jumper to stay within 5-4.

The Commodores score back-to-back field goals before Brown made a layup driving to the basket that started the Cyclone rally. Crooks completed a 3-point play, drawing contact on a made layup under the basket before making her free throw to tie the game. Iowa State took its first lead on a Kelsey Joens triple, but Vanderbilt hit a jumper to pull within 12-11 at the end of the quarter.

Vanderbilt continued the run by scoring the first six point of the second quarter before another Crooks layup ended the streak. The Cyclones would only produce one more score in the half on a Natabou layup that saw ISU get back within 20-16, but Vanderbilt scored the final eight points to hold the 28-16 lead at halftime. Iowa State shot just 18 percent from the floor in the quarter.

The Cyclones slowly worked their way back in the third quarter, trading scores throughout the first five minutes of the period. Nyamer Diew provided a spark for ISU, scoring seven of her 10 total points in the run to keep the Cyclones within striking distance. With just over three minutes left in the quarter, Iowa State’s offense ignited for a 10-2 run to close the quarter. Crooks made a layup before Diew blocked a shot and moved the ball down the floor to Joens, who hit her second 3-pointer of the night to make it a six-point ballgame. Brown added back-to-back scores, including a putback layup following a 3-pointer miss and completed a 3-point play after drawing a foul on a layup under the basket.

Crooks cut the deficit to one to start the fourth quarter, making a layup to put Iowa State within 43-42. Vanderbilt scored 11 of the next 12 before Diew knocked down a triple to stay within eight points. The Commodores score the next five, but Crooks completed her second 3-point play of the night with another layup and free throw. But Vanderbilt scored nine of the final 13 points to secure the win and remain undefeated.

TOP PERFORMANCE

Audi Crooks led Iowa State with 14 points and four rebounds. Finishing 6-of-9 from the floor, she shot at or above .500 in each of ISU’s four games this season. Crooks is shooting nearly 70 percent from the floor this season, a top mark by a Big 12 freshman and second overall in the conference.

UP NEXT

Iowa State takes on Syracuse tomorrow (Saturday), November 25^th in game two of the South Point Shootout. Tipoff against the Orange is set for 1 p.m. CT.

Iowa State will look to end Iowa’s domination in Cy-Hawk wrestling in Sunday’s dual in Ames. The Hawkeyes have won 18th straight in the series and 33 of the last 34. The Cyclones’ last victory was in 2004.

That’s Iowa State coach Kevin Dresser. Sunday will mark the first time ESPN has televised a dual meet.

Iowa coach Tom Brands says the atmosphere will be electric.

Brands says ESPN will provide a great showcase for the sport and the state.

……………

Iowa State closes the regular season on the road at 19th ranked Kansas State. The recent history of this series has featured close games. Six of the last nine have been decided by five points or less.

That’s Iowa State coach Matt Campbell who says it will take a big effort to get this road win.

With further expansion of the Big 12 this series will not be a protected rivalry and will no longer be played on an annual basis.

The Cyclones are 6-5. The Wildcats are 8-3.