media source avatar
Big Ten CommunicationsPublished: 3/11/2024, Last updated: 3/28/2024
link picture
Copied!

Iowa Wins 2024 TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament Title

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Second-seeded Iowa claimed its sixth Big Ten Conference Tournament title and third in as many years with a 94-89 overtime win over fifth-seeded Nebraska on Sunday afternoon before a sellout crowd at the Target Center in Minneapolis.

With Sunday’s victory, the Hawkeyes (29-4) will receive the Big Ten’s automatic berth into the 2024 NCAA Championship. The full 68-team field for this year’s tournament will be announced March 17 at 8 p.m. ET live on ESPN.

Iowa’s Cailtin Clark (34) and Hannah Stuelke (25) combined for 59 points to lead the Hawkeyes, with Clark scoring 30 of her 34 points over the final 24 minutes of action. Sydney Affolter chipped in 11 points and 11 rebounds while Clark added 12 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Nebraska’s Alexis Markowski tied the school record with her 40th career double-double on 23 points and 13 rebounds. Natalie Potts tallied 21 points and nine boards while Jaz Shelley recorded 16 points and 12 assists to go with six rebounds, two steals and two blocks. Nebraska set a Big Ten Championship Game record with 14 made three-pointers and Shelley earned a single tournament record with 16 three-point field goals, breaking a mark held by Kelly Mazzante of Penn State for 22 years.

Iowa became the fourth school in conference history to win three-straight Big Ten Tournament titles, joining Maryland (2015-17), Ohio State (2009-11) and Purdue (1998-2000). The Hawkeyes made 39 three-pointers during the tournament, the most in Big Ten history.

Clark was selected by the media as the tournament’s Jim and Kitty Delany Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year, joining Ohio State’s Jantel Lavender (2009-11) as the only players to achieve the feat. Markowski, Shelley, Clark and Affolter were joined by Michigan’s Laila Phelia on the Big Ten’s All-Tournament Team.

Sunday's broadcast on CBS delivered the most-watched women's college basketball conference tournament game ever on any network. The championship game averaged more than 3 million viewers and peaked at 4.450 million viewers in overtime. It was also the most-watched basketball game of the day on any network and most-watched women's college basketball game on CBS in 25 years (Tennessee vs. UConn on Jan. 10, 1999 - 3.879 million viewers).