STANFORD, California – Iowa State (21-12, 12-6 Big 12) lost a heartbreaker to No. 4 Stanford (30-5, 15-3 Pac-12) on Sunday night 87-81 in overtime in the second round of the NCAA Championship. The Cyclones were led by an elite 36-point performance by Emily Ryan, making for the second straight game a Cyclone has scored 30-plus.

Iowa State came out hot shooting at 6-of-8 from deep to lead 23-16 after the opening quarter, while Ryan put up a 15-point first half giving Iowa State a 33-31 edge. In a game of 18 lead changes and 12 ties, the Cyclones gave the Cardinal all they could take forcing overtime but came up short to end a memorable season.

Ryan was magnificent throughout the night, going out to a career-high 36 for her first 30 point game. That total now ties the second-highest single-game mark in ISU NCAA Tournament history, matching Ashley Joens’ mark set in the first round in 2022. The guard made 12 field goals to set the second-highest single-game program total. Ryan, who officially broke the NCAA Championships career assist program assist record in the first round, upped the record to 57. Ryan brings her tournament assist total to 18, tying the No. 5 single-tournament total in school history.

Ryan came one rebound shy of a double-double while adding four assists, two blocks and a steal to her final stat line. Ryan had six 3-pointers to match her career high.

Addy Brown had a stellar night totaling 18 points (7-of-11 shooting) and four 3-pointers to match her career high. ISU totaled 12 3-pointers, its 11th game with 10 or more 3-pointers. Audi Crooks had her 32nd-straight double-figure scoring outing with 10 points, also pulling down eight rebounds.

Heartbreak for the Iowa State women in the NCAA Tournament. Brooke Demetre’s three pointer with 18 seconds remaining in overtime gave Stanford the lead for good as the fifth ranked Cardinal edged the Cyclones 87-81 in Palo Alto. ISU finishes with a record of 21-12.

That is Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly. The Cyclones had a late three point lead in regulation and nearly pulled off a stunning upset.

Emily Ryan led the Cyclones with 36 points.

Ryan felt it was a special season for the Cyclones.

After leading Drake to six seasons of 20 wins or more Darian DeVries has left to become the new coach at West Virginia. The Bulldogs won two straight Missouri Valley Conference Tournament titles and played in the NCAA Tournament three times in the last four years. Drake AD Brian Hardin.

Hardin says he was first contacted by West Virginia AD Wren Baker the day after the Bulldogs lost to Washington State in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulldogs have a talented, young roster and Hardin says his first priority is to find the right coach.

Hardin would not say if two-time Missouri Valley Player of the Year Tucker Deries will follow his father to West Virginia despite numerous reports that he will. Hardin says the Bulldog program is in a great place because of the success Darian DeVries enjoyed.

Iowa’s defense was non existent Sunday night in an NIT loss at Utah. The Utes had seven three pointers in the opening half and used a late 13-0 run prior to halftime in a 91-82 victory.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery. The Hawkeyes finish the season with a record of 19-15.

Patrick McCaffery led the Hawkeyes with 19 points.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana – The University of Iowa baseball team defeated Purdue, 9-6, in the rubber match of the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Alexander Field.

Iowa outhit the Boilermakers, 15-4, and used a big fifth and sixth inning to secure the win.

“Really happy with how we came out,” said head coach Rick Heller. “The bats came out strong and jumped on them right away.”

The Hawkeyes got four and two third innings out of their starter Marcus Morgan. The Iowa City, Iowa native allowed two hits and three earned runs while striking out three and walking four.

Jack Whitlock entered in relief with the bases loaded and recorded a strikeout to get out of the jam. He threw 1 and 1/3 innings without allowing a baserunner to earn the win. Anthony Watts struck out two in an inning and 2/3rds of work, while allowing three runs (two earned).

Jack Young earned his first career save throwing the final 1 1/3 innings, he struck out the side in the bottom of the ninth to close the door.

“Decent start out of Marcus Morgan,” said Heller. “At times it was really good, but some free bases led to a few runs. They didn’t have to work very hard for their six. You look up at the board and see six runs on four hits, and you don’t like to see that, but we had some guys step up. Jack Whitlock was great on the mound and Jack Young finishing it out with the final four outs, he was outstanding again.”

On the offensive side of things, the Iowa bats remained hot totaling 29 hits in the final two games of the series.

Purdue took a 2-0 lead early in the game using a walk, a sacrifice bunt and an RBI double to get to the Hawkeyes in the third. A wild pitch and a mishandled sacrifice bunt allowed a second run to cross in the frame.

Iowa responded cutting the Purdue lead in half in the fourth inning as Raider Tello hit a leadoff double down the right field line and Davis Cop singled scoring him.

The Hawkeyes broke things open in the top half of the fourth. Ben Wilmes singled, Michael Seegers doubled to give the Hawkeyes runners in scoring position. Andy Nelson came to the plate and sent a ball over the Purdue bullpen in left field to give Iowa the lead.

A Sam Petersen bunt single and Raider Tello reaching on an infield error allowed Cop to bring home another run as he punched a ball through the left side. Cop finished the day 2-for-5 with three RBIs.

Purdue got a run back in the fifth after a bases loaded walk from Morgan, but the Hawkeyes tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull away.

Wilmes and Seegers both singled to set up Nelson who continued his stellar week with a two RBI double through the left side of the infield. Nelson was 2-for-4 with five RBIs on the day and hit .667 (10-for-15) with three home runs and nine RBIs in Iowa’s four games this week.

Petersen would single and score Nelson from second and Tello would single and put Petersen on third after an error. Cop grounded out but score Petersen from third to give the Hawkeyes a 9-3 lead.

Purdue would plate three runs in the seventh and eighth to narrow the gap, but Young would close the door earning the save and preventing any further damage.

“We just kept after them until the very end,” said Heller. “We didn’t execute as well as we would have liked, but 15 hits and nine runs, you will take that. Really good to get a road series win, never easy to win on the road. Good step for us.”

Iowa hit .364 with runners on compared to Purdue’s .231 and .333 with runners in scoring position compared to .222 for the Boilermakers.

UP NEXT: The Hawkeyes (13-10, 2-1 B1G) travel to Normal, Illinois for a midweek matchup on Tuesday with Illinois State.

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The 75th-ranked University of Iowa women’s tennis team dropped its first Big Ten Conference match of the season, falling 4-1 to No. 35 Northwestern on Sunday at the Hawkeye Tennis and Recreation Complex.

The loss drops Iowa’s record to 8-7 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten action.

The Wildcats opened the dual by winning the doubles point with victories on courts one and three. At the two line, Barbora Pokorna and Pia Kranholdt led Northwestern’s Britany Lau and Maria Shusharina, 6-5, but the match went unfinished.

The Wildcats earned wins in singles at No. 1, 3 and 6 to take the match victory.

Iowa picked up a win at the No. 2 line when junior Marisa Schmidt posted an impressive victory, downing No. 88 Justine Leong in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2.

QUOTING HEAD COACH SASHA SCHMID

“Congratulations to a very good Northwestern team. We fought but fell short in some key areas that just didn’t go our way. I credit the team for how they played, and now we have a good stretch ahead of us to get on the road to play two good conference teams. We will use this match and learn from it before we hit the road.”

UP NEXT

The Hawkeyes will return to action Friday, traveling to Madison to face Wisconsin before continuing on to Minneapolis to square off against Minnesota on Sunday.

The second ranked Iowa Hawkeye women look to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen with a victory, tonight, over West Virginia. Iowa coach Lisa Bluder says the Hawkeyes must limit mistakes against West Virginia’s pressure defense.

That’s Iowa coach Lisa Bluder who says too many turnovers will limit shots.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark says West Virginia turned the game around with their press in a first round win over Princeton.

The Hawkeyes rolled to a first round victory over Holy Cross and Clark says the little things become magnified beginning Monday night..

Clark says the Hawkeyes hope to take advantage of the home court.

West Virginia is 25-7 and coach Mark Kellog says they need to try and keep the Hawkeye crowd out of the game.

Kellog says Iowa’s Caitlin Clark combines an ability to score with the ability to create baskets for others.

Kellog on the challenge the Hawkeyes provide.

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The top-seeded Iowa women’s basketball team advanced to Round 32 of the NCAA Tournament after defeating 16-seeded Holy Cross, 91-65, on Saturday afternoon inside a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Four Hawkeyes scored in double figures as Caitlin Clark led the way with 27 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds. Kate Martin added 15 points with 14 rebounds. Addi O’Grady finished with 14 points and Gabbie Marshall downed three three-pointers to add 11.

Holy Cross stuck with the Hawkeyes through the first five minutes of the game with four lead changes and two ties. Iowa pulled away going up by nine with 2:32 left to play in the first, until the Crusaders went on a 10-3 run to end the first bringing the score to 23-21 going into the second.

The Hawkeyes came out hot in the second going on a 10-0 run. The Hawkeye defense held the Crusaders to only nine points in the second to go into halftime with a 48-30 lead. Clark led the half with 13 points and Martin added 11.

The game was played evenly in the second half. The Hawkeyes scored over 20 points in every quarter, and every available Iowa player contributed minutes to secure its first round win to advance for the ninth time out the last 10 NCAA Tournaments

UP NEXT
The Hawkeyes will face the winner of 8-Seed West Virginia/9-Seed Princeton on Monday in Iowa City at 7 p.m. (CT) on ESPN.