Caitlin Clark, Monika Czinano combine for 54 points to lead No. 16 Iowa over Gophers women's basketball

The Gophers women's basketball team was in Iowa City on Saturday to play a 16th-ranked Iowa team coming off a victory over No. 10 Iowa State on Wednesday.

The Hawkeyes have the nation's leading scorer in Caitlin Clark and one of the nation's best centers in Monika Czinano.

There are easier places to play your first Big Ten road game of the season.

With Clark (32) and Czinano (22) combining for 54 points, with the Gophers struggling with their shot and their transition defense, Iowa (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) rolled to an 87-64 victory.

"That's a team that's picked to win the conference," Gophers coach Lindsay Whalen said. "They were really good."

It was not for a lack of grit on the part of the young Gophers (5-5, 1-1). They rallied from eight points down in the first to within one late in the quarter.

Down 17 early in the second, they fought back to within 10.

But that's when things got out of hand. Iowa started the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run, essentially putting the game away.

"They knew that moment when they needed to come out and put the pressure on," Whalen said of Iowa, which held the Gophers to 10 points and 1-for-10 shooting in the final 10 minutes. "They have that experience."

The Hawkeyes returned all five starters from the team that won the regular-season and tournament championships in the Big Ten last season. That experience showed. Clark came one assist away from her eighth career triple-double, scoring 32 points with 10 rebounds and nine assists. Czinano, who played high school basketball at Watertown-Mayer, benefited from Gophers center Rose Micheaux getting into quick foul trouble, and scored 22 on 11-for-17 shooting. MaKenna Warnock had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.

Iowa played much of the second half without Kate Martin, who injured her leg on a night when Iowa coach Lisa Bluder set the Big Ten record with 234 regular-season wins.

Gophers leading scorer Mara Braun, quickly rising to the top of other team's scouting reports, led the Gophers with 14 points. But she didn't score in the second half and was 5-for-16 shooting. Amaya Battle had 11 points, five rebounds and four assists. Mallory Heyer had eight points and nine rebounds.

But Whalen saw some things she liked. She liked that her team battled back often. How they came out and matched the Hawkeyes point-for-point in the third quarter.

Still, 30.3% shooting was a hard thing to make up for when the Hawkeyes shot at or near 50% much of the night.

"There are things to build on," Whalen said. "There were some good moments, times when we're battling, hanging in there. That's a really good team."