Monday March 27th Local Sports

SEATTLE — Thirty years later, The Iowa Hawkeye women are headed back to the Final Four.

Rob Brooks and Jamie Cavey Lang on the Hawkeye Network as you heard last night on AM-1300 KGLO. Iowa blew the game open by outscoring Louisville 30-12 to close the third quarter in a 97-83 win in Seattle. It’s Iowa’s first trip to the Final Four since 1993 and the first for head coach Lisa Bluder.

It’s Iowa’s school-record 30th win of the season and they head to Dallas this morning for Friday night’s semifinal round.

Junior guard Caitlin Clark had the first 40-point triple-double in NCAA Tournament history. She finished with 41 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists.

Clark made 11 of 19 shots, including eight of 14 from behind the arc.

Clark had a goal of leading the Hawkeyes to the Final Four when she signed with Bluder.

McKenna Warnock scored 17 points as the Hawkeyes had to regroup after falling behind 8-0 at the outset.

The Hawkeyes play the winner of tonight’s game between Maryland and top ranked South Carolina

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Karl-Anthony Towns hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 11 seconds to play after Kyle Anderson stole a pass by Draymond Green, and the Minnesota Timberwolves held off the Golden State Warriors 99-96 to keep things interesting in the wild Western Conference playoff standings. Jordan Poole gave Golden State the lead on a 3-pointer with 1:28 left — moments after Towns had connected from deep. Poole, who had a game-high 27 points, then secured a rebound on the other end. The Warriors had a chance with 9.9 seconds left but Stephen Curry couldn’t corral Poole’s errant pass, then Curry missed a contested 3 from the baseline just before the final buzzer. Towns had 14 points and five rebounds in his second outing following a 52-game absence with a strained right calf.

BOONE — The NIACC softball team split a weekend series with #3 DMACC in Boone over the weekend. On Friday, NIACC won the nightcap with a 6-5 victory after dropping the opener 10-4. In the second game, NIACC, which was the designated home team, trailed 5-2 heading into its last at-bat. The Trojans tied the contest on a two-RBI double by Sydney Toman. Taya Tucker plated Toman with the winning run with a two-out single to right field. On Saturday, NIACC scored five in the second on their way to an 8-2 win, while DMACC survived the nightcap 12-11 in nine innings.  NIACC is 18-8 overall and 2-2 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference. They’ll be back in action on Saturday and Sunday at home against Iowa Central.

COUNCIL BLUFFS — The NIACC baseball team dropped all three of their games at #4 in Division I Iowa Western over the weekend. On Friday, Iowa Western took a doubleheader 3-0 and 5-2. NIACC’s Kade Peloquin had two hits including a triple in the opener, but the Trojans committed six errors in the nightcap. Iowa Western scored three in the bottom of the first in Saturday’s single game and went on to a 9-2 victory. NIACC is 5-16 overall and 1-3 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference. They will travel to Marion on Wednesday to face Southwestern Community College for a doubleheader.

MASON CITY — The North Iowa Bulls spilt their weekend series with Minot at the Mason City Arena. Minot scored all four of their goals in the first period on Friday night and held off the Bulls’ rally for a 4-3 victory. Logan Dombrowsky and Simone Dadie led North Iowa with each having a goal and two assists. The Bulls successfully rallied on Saturday night for a 5-4 win. Carter Davis had a goal and an assist for North Iowa. North Iowa is 29-22-2-1 and now has 61 points and sit in second place in a Central Division that sees a nine-point spread between second and sixth place heading into the final three weeks of the regular season. The Bulls travel to Bismarck for a two-game weekend series later this week.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Ryan Hartman scored with 1:11 remaining in the third period to send the Minnesota Wild to a 3-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. Ryan Reaves and Frederick Gaudreau also scored for Minnesota. Filip Gustavsson made 22 saves in goal. The Wild have points in four straight games after their franchise-record 14-game point streak was snapped on March 18. Minnesota started the day a point behind Dallas, which hosts Vancouver, for the lead in the Central Division. Lukas Reichel scored for Chicago, which has lost four in a row. Former Wild goaltender Alex Stalock made 22 saves for the Blackhawks.