Ohio State and Iowa met in Columbus on Sunday afternoon in a matchup of top-25 women’s basketball teams, and the 18th ranked Buckeyes pulled off a 100-92 overtime upset of the No. 2 Hawkeyes.
Cotie McMahon (33 points and 12 rebounds) and Jacy Shelton (24 points and seven rebounds) were able to outduel another incredible Caitlin Clark performance, as the Iowa star poured in 45 points along with seven assists in the loss. As the final buzzer sounded, the Ohio State crowd poured onto the court to celebrate the win, but unfortunately the celebration saw Clark get clocked trying to run into the tunnel by a fan not paying attention as they sprinted onto the court with their phone up.
Caitlin Clark injury after the Ohio State game… pic.twitter.com/uLwtBmxF99
— DadsDontPlay (@Dadsdontplay) January 21, 2024
Clark stayed down for a bit of time after getting run over, but said after the game that she was fine, just dealing with the wind getting knocked out of her which is great news for Iowa (and college basketball in general).
Caitlin Clark says she’s ok now after getting blindsided by a fan trying to storm the court. She fell hard and mentioned she got the wind knocked out of her. pic.twitter.com/V8SzpsCDMU
— Kellyanne Stitts (@KellyanneStitts) January 21, 2024
“Kind of scary, could’ve caused a pretty serious injury to me,” Clark said after the game. “Knocked the wind out of me. But, luckily, teammates kind of picked me up and got me off the court, and their AD already came and apologized to me, so I really appreciate that. This is what comes with the territory, I’m sure they tried their best to do whatever they could. Obviously, it didn’t work, and that’s disappointing. But, just focused now on the game, ways we can get better.”
This is the reason court/field storming is something schools get fined for by many conferences, as there’s always the danger of an opposing player getting caught up and there being either a confrontation or an accidental situation like this.