Saturday’s first round of the NCAA women’s tournament featured stars galore. From Iowa’s Caitlin Clark to Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair, to stellar freshmen JuJu Watkins (USC) and Hannah Hidalgo (Notre Dame), some of the very best talent in the sport took to the court.
Here are our takeaways from an exciting day of action.
Caitlin Clark overcomes slow start to nearly net triple-double in win
Clark began Iowa’s NCAA Tournament run with as many points (five) as turnovers (five) in the first quarter. Forward Hannah Stuelke failed to play in the second half, and yet, the Hawkeyes still won their opening-round game against Holy Cross 91-65.
Clark finished 8 of 19 from the field, including 3 of 9 from deep, scoring 27 points with 10 assists and eight rebounds. The sport’s all-time leading scorer made up for her slow start that led to the Hawkeyes being only up two, 23-21, after one quarter.
It speaks to how good Clark is that even with a quiet night by her standards, she still managed to produce a remarkable stat line and show off her excellent handles and range.
