Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023. A day that will be etched in Iowa sports history forever, for the Crossover at Kinnick women’s basketball game. 55,646 people attended the exhibition game to watch the Hawkeyes rout the Depaul Blue Demons 94-72, with Caitlin Clark stealing the show putting up 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. To add to her numerous achievements throughout her career she can tack on being the first and probably only player to ever record a triple-double inside Kinnick Stadium. From the outside looking in it seems to be just a normal exhibition game with just an extra form of publicity for the program, but the people inside the program and the fans know that it’s worth so much more than that.
This event has been in the works for a good amount of time, August 10, 2023, was when it was officially announced. As soon as tickets went on sale they were flying off the charts, with the season tickets for the actual season already sold out, it wasn’t a big surprise for these tickets to be popping. There was buzz early about the possible breaking of the record, and shortly after that, the buzz became, how bad will the record be shattered? The previous record was 29,619 in the 2002 NCAA tournament National Championship game, and it was broken easily.
When it comes to the gameplay, Iowa looked like they always do. In contrary to the football team that plays in Kinnick Stadium, the Iowa Women put up points, quickly, and at large numbers. The starting lineup for the Hawk consists of Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin, Hannah Stuelke, Addison O’Grady, and Caitlin Clark. Two new faces to the lineup but not to the court in Stuelke and O’Grady, who both played big roles in the runner-up finish last year, will be asked to do even more than last year. Stuelke specializes in running the court and seems to always somehow get behind the defense for a layup in transition, and O’Grady will be more of a true post, defending the paint and grabbing rebounds to try and give her shooters opportunities.
In terms of the goals for the team this season, the sky is the limit. Returning all but two players from a national runner-up is a pretty good recipe for success. You can bet this team has another trip to the championship in mind, but they won’t be looking for a participation trophy this time around.