Saturday night at College Park, No. 3 Iowa secures the victory.

The Maryland jinx is gone.

Since the 1992–93 campaign, Iowa’s women’s basketball team has not triumphed on the Terrapins’ home court, and their most recent defeats have been rather humiliating.

On Saturday night, that was different. The No. 3 Hawkeyes defeated Maryland 93-85 after withstanding a late comeback.

Over the past several seasons, Iowa has suffered some of its toughest losses against Maryland. The Hawkeyes lost 93-59 in 2020, 111-93 in 2021, and 96-68 last year, which cost them a share of the Big Ten title.

But this time, in front of a sellout 17,950 spectators, Iowa didn’t wither.

With a season-high 12 assists and 38 points, Caitlin Clark led the Hawkeyes. Kate Martin finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds, while Molly Davis scored 17 points.

The lessons learned from Saturday’s match:

THE CLARK COUNTDOWN: Clark continues to get closer to breaking the record for most points scored in women’s basketball history. With 3,462 points, she was 65 fewer than the all-time leader, Kelsey Plum.

In this game, she took a beating, as is typical when she plays the Terrapins, but she never faltered. Clark made 13 of 29 field goals, 7 of 17 3-pointers, and five flawless free throws.

But she also had a lot to do with her 12 assists, which helped them win because they kept harassing her, forcing her to find teammates who were open.

GOOD GOLLY, MOLLY: Davis has been a more assured player this year, but on Wednesday she was coming off a three-point performance against Northwestern in which she only attempted four shots.

In her 35 minutes of action, she made 7 of 11 shots, including 3 of 5 three-pointers. She added three assists and four rebounds.

This season, Davis has been a good balance to Clark, and Iowa will need that going into the last weeks of the regular season and the postseason.

THEY NEVER WAVERED: Iowa trailed 11-3 at the beginning of the game and gave up a 25-5 run with 8:39 remaining in the third quarter, even though they were ahead 56-38 at that point.

However, the Hawkeyes continued to respond to Maryland’s runs with their own in a tough road environment. A seasoned squad that had seen a lot of testing over the previous two seasons wasn’t going to falter, and the Hawkeyes’ ability to seal the victory in the closing minutes demonstrated this.

POINTS INSIDE: Iowa scored 44 points in the paint, but the Hawkeyes’ frontcourt output went beyond that.

Nine points and eight rebounds were Hannah Stuelke’s totals, but six of those were offensive rebounds. Playing a solid 14 minutes off the bench, Addison O’Grady pulled down seven rebounds. Martin also recorded eight defensive rebounds, being her typical all-around player.