Crossover at Kinnick was an American

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibition ...

women's

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

game between the

Iowa Hawkeyes The Iowa Hawkeyes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes have varsity teams in 22 sports, 8 for men and 14 for women; a 15th women's sport will be added in 2023. The teams partici ...

and the

DePaul Blue Demons The DePaul Blue Demons are the athletic teams that represent DePaul University, located in Chicago, Illinois. The Blue Demons participate in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big East Conference. DePaul’s Athletic Director is DeWayne ...

. Held at

Kinnick Stadium Nile Kinnick Stadium is a stadium located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the home stadium of the University of Iowa Hawkeyes football team. First opened in 1929 as Iowa Stadium to replace Iowa Field, it currently holds up to 69,250 peo ...

, the home stadium of the Hawkeyes football team, the game set the women's basketball single-game attendance record (55,646). Led by reigning national player of the year

Caitlin Clark Caitlin Clark (born January 22, 2002) is an American college basketball player for the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference. She plays the point guard position. At Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, Clark was named a M ...

, who had a 34-point

triple-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

, Iowa defeated DePaul, 94–72.

Background

In the 2022–23 season,

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

reached the

2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game The 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball championship game was the final game of the 2023 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament. It determined the national champion for the 2022–23 NCAA Division I women's basketball season and was ...

, losing to

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

. The success of guard

, who earned all major national player of the year awards, drove record ticket sales for the 2023–24 team. DePaul finished with a 16–17 record and missed the NCAA tournament, before losing star forward

Aneesah Morrow Aneesah Morrow (born February 2, 2003) is an American college basketball player for the DePaul Blue Demons. She was named the WBCA and USBWA National Freshman of the Year in 2022. High school career Morrow attended Simeon Career Academy in Chica ...

to the

transfer portal The NCAA transfer portal is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) application, database, and compliance tool launched on October 15, 2018, to manage and facilitate the process for student athletes seeking to transfer between member ...

. On August 10, 2023, Iowa announced that it would host DePaul in a preseason

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, the school's

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

stadium, with proceeds going to the

University of Iowa Children's Hospital University of Iowa Stead Family Children's Hospital formerly University of Iowa Children's Hospital and Children's Hospital of Iowa is a pediatric acute care academic children's hospital located in Iowa City, Iowa. The hospital was founded in 19 ...

. In case of inclement weather, the game would be moved to

Carver–Hawkeye Arena The Carver–Hawkeye Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Iowa City, Iowa. Opened in 1983, it is the home court for The University of Iowa Hawkeyes men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the university's wrestling, and gymnas ...

. Head coaches

Lisa Bluder Lisa Marie Bluder (, born April 16, 1961) is the head coach of the University of Iowa, Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball program. Formerly, she served as coach of St. Ambrose University and the Drake Bulldogs women's basketball, Drake Bulldogs. E ...

of Iowa and

Doug Bruno Richard Douglas Bruno (born November 7, 1950) is the head coach of the DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball team. In 2016, he completed his 30th season as head coach. Under his tenure, the Blue Demons have qualified for post-season competition p ...

of DePaul first discussed the idea for the game during a private preseason scrimmage between their teams in the previous year. Bluder proposed the idea to Iowa interim athletic director

Beth Goetz Beth Goetz (born July 30, 1974) is the current director of athletics for Ball State University. She previously served as chief operating officer at the University of Connecticut from 2016 to 2018, as interim athletic director at the University of ...

shortly after the 2023 NCAA tournament, inspired by the success of the campus celebration of the 2022–23 team, which drew 9,000 fans, and the school's

Grapple on the Gridiron The Grapple on the Gridiron was a college wrestling dual meet held on November 14, 2015, in Iowa City, Iowa. Historical rivals Oklahoma State University and University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a p ...

wrestling meet in 2015.

Game summary

Crossover at Kinnick had an attendance of 55,646, the highest for a single game in women's basketball history. The previous record was 29,619, in the national championship of the 2002 NCAA tournament between

UConn The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Ha ...

and

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

at the

Alamodome The Alamodome is a 64,000-seat domed indoor multi-purpose stadium in San Antonio, Texas. It is located on the southeastern fringe of downtown San Antonio. The facility opened on May 15, 1993, having been constructed at a cost of $186 milli ...

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

. It was the first women's basketball game to be played in an outdoor football stadium. The game was televised on the

Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news, analysis programs, ...

, with Mike Hall on play-by-play commentary and

Christy Winters-Scott Christy Winters Scott is a basketball color analyst for college basketball games for ESPN, FSN, The Big Ten Network (BTN), NBC Sports Washington, and Raycom Sports. She has been the lead analyst for BTN Women’s Basketball since 2016. Some o ...

and Meghan McKeown as color analysts. After DePaul led by three early in the first quarter, Iowa rallied and held the lead for the rest of the game. The Hawkeyes started the second quarter on a 10–3 run to extend their lead to double digits. At halftime, Iowa led 52–37, behind 24 points, seven assists and five rebounds from Caitlin Clark. They finished the third quarter with a 77–51 lead and won the game, 94–72, despite a 15–0 run from DePaul to start the fourth quarter. Clark posted a triple-double of 34 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, while Anaya Peoples led DePaul with 19 points and five rebounds.

Aftermath

The game raised about $250,000 for the

. It drew attention to the growing popularity of women's sports, with analysts comparing it to Volleyball Day in Nebraska, an August 2023 outdoor

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

game hosted by

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

, which was the highest-attended women's sporting event of all time.

References

External links

Box score
{{Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball navbox College basketball games in the United States Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball DePaul Blue Demons women's basketball October 2023 sports events in the United States 2023 in sports in Iowa Iowa City, Iowa