IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Monika Czinano scored 10 of her 21 points a decisive opening run and No. 25 Iowa led by double figures for more than 34 minutes as the Hawkeyes beat Illinois 82-56 on Sunday night for their fifth consecutive win.
Czinano, who shot 9 of 15 from the field, made a layup to open the scoring and her jumper with 2:35 left in the first quarter made it 15-2. Illinois made just 1 of 9 from the field and committed five of its six first-quarter turnovers during that stretch.
Caitlin Clark had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Iowa (12-4, 6-1 Big Ten). Clark went into the game having recorded back-to-back 30-point triple-doubles, a first in NCAA history. She has a conference single-season record four triple-double and leads the nation in scoring at 26.2 points per game this season.
Jayla Oden, the only Illinois player to score in double figures, had 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. The rest of the Illini shot just 27% (14 of 51) from the field.
Clark needed just 91 seconds to score the first eight points of a 12-0 run that made it 55-22 midway through the third quarter.
Illinois (6-11, 1-5 Big Ten) lost the first game of a three-game road trip — and its third straight overall — and is winless in seven games away from home this season.
Iowa outscored the Illini 54-16 in the paint and scored 20 points off their 16 turnovers.
Tomi Taiwo had 14 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Kylie Feuerbach added 10 points for the Hawkeyes.
Illinois plays road games against No. 6 Indiana on Thursday and Northwestern on next Sunday.
Iowa also hits the road for games at Nebraska on Tuesday and at Northwestern, which beat the Hawkeyes 77-69 on Jan. 6 — their lone loss in Big Ten play this season — on Friday.
