2024 Big Ten WBB Tournament: Day 3 Recap
Upsets aplenty and Caitlin Clark missing one million threes in a row!
MINNEAPOLIS – Well, that was certainly an unexpected day of results in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament! Three upsets, with only higher-seeded Iowa moving on to the semis, and an incredible Michigan run in the second half highlighted another exciting day of hoops in the Twin Cities.
FINAL SCORES
No. 1 Ohio State 61 - No. 8 Maryland 82
No. 4 Michigan State 61 - No. 5 Nebraska 73
No. 2 Iowa 95 - No. 7 Penn State 62
No. 3 Indiana 56 - No. 6 Michigan 69
TOP PLAYERS
Ohio State Buckeyes
Rebeka Mikulasikova: 16 points (6-of-9 FG, 4-of-6 3P), five rebounds (two offensive), one assist, one block, -10
Taylor Thierry: 13 points (5-of-10 FG, 0-of-1 3P), two rebounds, two assists, -19
Cotie McMahon: 12 points (3-of-17 FG, 0-of-1 3P), nine rebounds (two offensive), three assists, one block, -17
Maryland Terrapins
Faith Masonius: 15 points (7-of-8 FG), 11 rebounds (five offensive), four assists, two blocks, +34
Shyanne Sellers: 25 points (9-of-17 FG, 0-of-1 3P), eight rebounds (two offensive), seven assists, one block, one steal, +21
Jakia Brown-Turner: 19 points (7-of-14 FG, 1-of-2 3P), nine rebounds (one offensive), two assists, one block, +22
Michigan State Spartans
Julia Ayrault: 25 points (9-of-19 FG, 2-of-7 3P), five rebounds, three blocks, -8
Jocelyn Tate: eight points (4-of-9 FG, 0-of-1 3P), four rebounds (one offensive), three assists, three blocks, two steals, -5
Theryn Hallock: eight points (4-of-6 FG), two rebounds, three assists, one steal, -8
Nebraska Cornhuskers
Jaz Shelley: 17 points (6-of-13 FG, 3-of-9 3P), one rebound, five assists, one block, +11
Alexis Markowski: 22 points (11-of-20 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 12 rebounds (six offensive), four assists, +17
Natalie Potts: 15 points (6-of-12 FG, 2-of-2 3P), 11 rebounds (six offensive), one assist, three blocks, two steals, +17
Iowa Hawkeyes
Caitlin Clark: 24 points (5-of-19 FG, 2-of-14 3P), 10 rebounds, seven assists, one block, one steal, +35
Sydney Affolter: 18 points (5-of-9 FG, 3-of-4 3P), nine rebounds (three offensive), five assists, one block, one steal, +23
Gabbie Marshall: 15 points (5-of-8 FG, 4-of-7 3P), two rebounds (one offensive), two assists, three steals, +25
Penn State Nittany Lions
Leilani Kapinus: 19 points (7-of-11 FG, 3-of-6 3P), five rebounds (one offensive), two assists, two steals, -25
Shay Ciezki: seven points (2-of-6 FG, 1-of-4 3P), three rebounds (two offensive), one assist, -23
Ashley Owusu: 18 points (8-of-20 FG, 1-of-6 3P), six rebounds (one offensive), three assists, one steal, -2
Indiana Hoosiers
Sara Scalia: 14 points (5-of-16 FG, 4-of-12 3P), two rebounds (one offensive), two assists, -9
Sydney Parrish: 13 points (5-of-9 FG, 3-of-5 3P), nine rebounds, two blocks, -5
Chloe Moore-McNeil: 10 points (4-of-9 FG, 1-of-2 3P), three rebounds, five assists, three steals, -13
Michigan Wolverines
Laila Phelia: 30 points (12-of-22 FG, 0-of-3 3P), four rebounds (two offensive), four assists, two steals, +13
Lauren Hansen: 16 points (6-of-9 FG, 4-of-6 3P), four rebounds, +11
Jordan Hobbs: 10 points (4-of-13 FG, 2-of-3 3P), four rebounds, five assists, one block, one steal, +15
FUN FACTS
Maryland is in the Big Ten Semifinals for the 10th time in 11 years.
This was Ohio State’s largest loss (21 points) of the season.
This is the first time OSU has lost back-to-back games this year.
A 1-seed hadn’t lost their opening game in the BTT since 2014 (No. 1 PSU lost to No. 8 OSU, 99-82).
Nebraska is in the semifinals for the second time in the last three years.
Alexis Markowski recorded her 39th career double-double, one away from the school record.
Julia Ayrault’s three blocks moved her into fourth place (135 blocks) on MSU’s all-time list.
This was Penn State’s first quarterfinal appearance since 2014.
Caitlin Clark (164) broke Steph Curry’s (162) NCAA single-season three pointers record on Friday night.
Iowa made 15 three-pointers as a team, tying the BTT record set in 2022 by Nebraska. Their 44 attempts from deep shattered the old BTT record of 32, set by Illinois in 2017.
Michigan was down by 17 points in the third quarter and ended up winning by 13.
Indiana shot three free throws.
Entering the game, Indiana was 21-0 when leading at halftime. They are now 21-1.
The lower seeded team won three of four games in the quarterfinals.
POSTGAME QUOTES OHIO STATE
Taylor Thierry on her emotions after the loss: “This loss definitely sucks. It stings. We're just going to move on to our next game and fix up some of the mistakes we made this game.
Jacy Sheldon on why the Buckeyes lost: “We didn't make a lot of shots that we normally do. Credit to them, they played great, though. Really we got outrebounded. That was the main factor for us that we're going to have to be better at moving forward.
Head coach Kevin McGuff on the officiating: “Yeah, once again, there was a whole lot I didn't agree with and a whole lot I don't understand, but it didn't impact who won the game. Maryland deserved to win the game. They were the better team today. So let me make that crystal clear.
But there's a whole lot I don't understand about the way the game is called.”
POSTGAME QUOTES MARYLAND
Shyanne Sellers on what changed from the last time Maryland played OSU: “I think we've always had it in us. Even though people don't believe in us and still don't believe in us. Maybe they think this game is a fluke. I'm telling you right now, the Maryland team you see in March is not the same team you see at the beginning. I think we just proved that right now.
Obviously it's one game at a time. We have to wait for the next game to see who we play. But we're going to continue to fight and keep pushing off this.”Part of head coach Brenda Frese’s opening statement: “Rebounding was huge. That was an area for us to go on the glass and be plus 24. Just really proud of this team. We've battled so much adversity this season -- injuries, one of the toughest schedules in the country. We played so many top 25 teams, top 10 teams, and have battled them all.
So to finally get over that hump today when it matters most in the most time of pressure is a testament to these guys.”Faith Masonius on OSU’s vaunted press: “I think for us obviously we know Ohio State has a great press, and they tend to get a lot of steals and momentum off their press. So I think for us it was just, you know, looking up, passing the ball up, staying composed, seeing what was open. They try to speed you up.
So really just taking a breath and taking a second to find the open man.”
POSTGAME QUOTES MICHIGAN STATE
Head coach Robyn Fralick on the differences of playing in a bigger arena than usual: “I don't know. I'm sure somebody's done some statistics on that, so there's data behind it. We always say in our program, when it's time to hoop, we hoop. If that's whatever gym, morning, night, cold, hot.
I don't know if it's an advantage or a disadvantage. I know we were really happy to finish as the 4th seed, and then today you've got to come and play good basketball.”
POSTGAME QUOTES NEBRASKA
Jaz Shelley on handling MSU’s press: “That's something we've struggled with this season. It was a point of emphasis, and we knew we needed to buy into our press breaker. People really wanted the basketball, and I think we did a really, really good job of breaking that.”
Logan Nissley on different players stepping up in different quarters: “I think that's a big part of our team. Anyone can step on any given night. For all three of us to have that kind of game. I think there's multiple people that stepped up in the game. I know Nat had a double-double. Jess Petrie played big minutes when Lex got into foul trouble. I just think we have depth. So that really helps us go deep into games.”
Head coach Amy Williams on Alexis Markowski: “Well, it's pretty fun for us as a coaching staff over there. I did tell her, while she was on the court, she got all her misses out on one possession. We knew that we would keep going right back to her.
To be honest, I thought our guards did a better job of zipping passes into her in the second quarter instead of kind of floating them into her. It allowed her to keep her positioning a little bit deeper and made things a little bit easier for her.”
POSTGAME QUOTES IOWA
Caitlin Clark on playing on the home court of her childhood favorite team, the Minnesota Lynx: “I think I said that when I was here for Big Ten media day too. It's kind of cool we get to come back here and play. This was the place I went to my first WNBA game, a lot of players I grew up idolizing. That was a team that really was a dynasty and won multiple WNBA championships, so for sure.
Clark on her off shooting night: “Honestly, I think as a shooter, like sometimes you can feel it was off, and honestly a lot of my shots I felt were right there, and I think that's the most positive thing. A lot of them I thought were going in, sometimes a little short, sometimes a little long.
I thought I could have probably gotten to the basket a little bit more. Honestly, they were packing the paint really hard. They were gapping really, really well. I was trolling and messing around when I made that. You've got to have some fun.”Head coach Lisa Bluder on Gabbie Marshall’s impact: “We need her. She's valuable. How about her defense tonight? Everybody gets enthralled with her offense because it's so much fun when she puts threes down, but, boy, she caused a lot of turnovers tonight. She was digging and recovering and playing great defense.”
POSTGAME QUOTES PENN STATE
Head coach Carolyn Kieger on defending Caitlin Clark and Iowa’s depth: “We were just talking about that in the locker room. Obviously I said this yesterday, but I think Leilani Kapinus is the best defender in the country. She proved it tonight, I thought, doing a really good job, making her work for her shots.
Give Iowa the credit, they're a very deep program. Obviously they were able to shoot 15 threes even in an off shooting night for Caitlin. So what our game plan was is going to be take Caitlin out of her rhythm and hope the role players stayed in check, and tonight they stepped up, and they stepped up in a big way. So kudos to them.
I'm really proud of our team's effort with Caitlin and finding her and picking her up in the full court. I'm glad you recognized that as well, and it's something for us to build upon.”Kieger on her team’s offense: “Our offense wasn't there. It wasn't clicking. We weren't sharing the basketball enough. We were playing on our toes -- on our heels, I should say, versus playing with pace and playing fearless, like we did the first round against them.”
POSTGAME QUOTES INDIANA
Head coach Teri Moren on holding Mackenzie Holmes out for most of the game: “I think it was just trying to figure out the balance. Our goal was to be here till Sunday. So we were going to -- she was available. We knew she was going to be available. We didn't want to have to play her. We wanted to be able to use her tomorrow more.
But she looked at me, and she said, I'm ready to go in, see if I can help.
So in terms of how healthy she is, she could have easily played tonight. We just were trying to hold her out as much as we could to see what the pieces that we did have that we did feel were healthy enough, if we could get past Michigan and into tomorrow's semifinal.”Moren on whether or not Indiana will host NCAA Tournament games: “I think our body of work speaks for itself. We're not healthy by any stretch of the means. I think that has to be part of the criteria or whatever they look at. This is not Indiana at full health right now. It's not a healthy squad.
But I do believe this, that come tournament time in two weeks we will have a much different looking, healthier basketball team.”Sydney Parrish on her emotions after the loss: “I think I'm most disappointed because I know what this group is capable of. I know we could have made it to championship Sunday. I know we're one of the best teams in the league, if not the best. And I think that's where I really got, I guess, emotional and upset because I know we're enough and I know we have enough pieces, even with Mackenzie and Lilly battling some injuries and stuff, I know we have enough pieces to be able to be a championship team.
So just pretty disappointed.”
POSTGAME QUOTES MICHIGAN
Head coach Kim Barnes Arico on Laila Phelia and her team’s performance: “I think Laila Phelia showed why she's one of the best players in the country, and I thought she did a tremendous job late when they started to really double her and try to load on her of finding Lauren. Lauren is one of the best shooters in the country, one of the best playmakers in the country. So they found each other.
But our team just battled and did a great job defensively against a really disciplined, tough Indiana team. It was a great basketball game, a great basketball game for our team and super excited to be advancing in the Big Ten tournament.”Laila Phelia on the challenges of playing Iowa and Caitlin Clark: “I feel like the biggest thing for us is just staying true to who we are as a team and continuing to do the little things and chip away. Caitlin Clark, she's a great player, so we all have to definitely tune in and help each other out on that.”
Lauren Hansen on the team’s mood heading into the semifinals: “I think it's a confidence boost, but at the same time, we came here to win a Big Ten Championship. So that's the goal. That's just right now it's a bonus. We'll deal with all that after. We're just going to stay focused on the moment that we're in.
SATURDAY SEMIFINAL SCHEDULE (all games on Big Ten Network)
No. 8 Maryland Terrapins vs. No. 5 Nebraska Cornhuskers; 1:00 p.m. CT
No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes vs. No. 6 Michigan Wolverines; 3:30 p.m. CT