One down: Iowa routs Penn State in the Big Ten tournament ...

MINNEAPOLIS — Gabbie Marshall?

How about Gabbie MARCH-all?

Marshall — and fellow perimeter-mate Taylor McCabe — made a rare cold shooting night by Caitlin Clark a minor inconvenience, and No. 3 Iowa blistered Penn State, 95-62, in a Big Ten women’s basketball tournament quarterfinal Friday evening at Target Center.

“The biggest thing is being confident in myself and just playing free out there,” said Marshall, who hit 4 of 7 long-range attempts for the third straight game.

“I think, when you miss some shots and kind of get into a little bit of a slump, you can become tense, and I feel like that's kind of what my problem was.

“I told myself, just play free, have fun, enjoy every little moment on the court, whether it's picking up my teammate or cheering for my teammate or getting an open shot for my teammate.”

Clark led the Hawkeyes (27-4) with 24 points, and registered 10 rebounds and seven assists. But the reigning national player of the year was 5 of 19 from the field, 2 of 14 from long range.

No matter.

Sydney Affolter took advantage of her expanded role with a career-high 18 points. Marshall (15 points) and McCabe (12) drilled four 3-pointers apiece.

Iowa advanced to face Michigan (20-12) in a semifinal at 3:30 Saturday afternoon (BTN). The Wolverines upset No. 12 Indiana, 69-56, Friday night.

Last year, Marshall broke out of an extended shooting slump in time to coincide with Iowa’s run to a Big Ten tournament title and the NCAA national final.

Friday, she took another step on recreating the same storyline.

“I think I just really like the month of March,” she said. “You always wake up wanting to shoot it well or play good for your team.”

McCabe was 4-of-8 from distance and scored her 12 points in 13 minutes.

“(Clark) knows that she doesn’t have to be perfect all the time,” McCabe said. “That’s why she has us. I thought we did a good job of pulling them out of the box-and-one and out of the zone and out of the press. That’s what matters.”

Bluder said, “Taylor is so important for us. First of all, she can shoot the ball like crazy, which is great. She has kept her head up, even when she wasn't getting meaningful minutes. Then here it is, the most important time of the year, and we need her, and she's showing up big.”

On a day in which 8-seed Maryland rocked the bracket with an 82-61 thumping of regular-season champion Ohio State, the Hawkeyes brought back a measure of order.

“We watch games earlier when we’re just hanging out,” McCabe said. “Once it got time to load up the bus, we were like, all right, it’s game time. We’ve got to come out with that fire and we’ve got to make sure that we’re not going home tomorrow.”

Iowa scored the first 10 points, led 31-13 after a quarter, coasted through the middle two periods, then roared away again late.

“We were going to try to keep their role players in check, but they stepped up,” Penn State Coach Carolyn Kieger said.

The Hawkeyes assembled scoring runs of 10-0, 9-0, 7-0 and 11-0 before halftime.

Penn State (19-12) probably will be on the wrong side of the bubble when the NCAA brackets are released Sunday.

Iowa guard Molly Davis is out for the week with an injured knee, sustained in the Hawkeyes’ regular-season finale. That thrust Affolter into the starting lineup and increased McCabe’s role.

Both clearly were ready for the bright lights Friday.

“I know whenever my time comes, I’m ready to fill any shoes,” Affolter said.

Iowa 95, Penn State 62

Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinal, at Minneapolis

PENN STATE (62): Ali Brigham 2-3 1-2 5, Ashley Owusu 8-20 1-1 18, Shay Ciezki 2-6 2-2 7, Leilani Kapinus 7-11 2-2 19, Makenna Marisa 3-9 0-0 7, Jayla Oden 1-5 1-2 4, Chanaya Pinto 0-3 0-0 0, Kylie Lavelle 0-1 0-0 0, Moriah Murray 0-3 0-0 0, Alli Campbell 0-3 0-0 0, Grace Hall 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 24-69 7-9 62.

IOWA (95): Hannah Stuelke 1-5 6-6 8, Sydney Affolter 5-9 5-5 18, Kate Martin 5-11 0-0 11, Caitlin Clark 5-19 12-13 24, Gabbie Marshall 5-8 1-2 15, Kylie Feuerbach 2-6 0-0 5, Taylor McCabe 4-8 0-0 12, Addison O’Grady 0-0 1-2 1, A.J. Ediger 0-0 1-2 1, Jaya Gyamfi 0-1 0-0 0, Sharon Goodman 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-67 26-30 95.

Penn State 13 13 22 14 — 62

Iowa 31 15 19 30 — 95

3-point goals: Penn State 7-33 (Owusu 1-6, Ciezki 1-4, Kapinus 3-6, Marisa 1-6, Oden 1-2, Pinto 0-1, Lavelle 0-1, Murray 0-3, Campbell 0-2, Hall 0-2), Iowa 15-44 (Affolter 3-4, Martin 1-6, Clark 2-14, Marshall 4-7, Feuerbach 1-4, McCabe 4-8, Gyamfi 0-1). Team fouls: Penn State 23, Iowa 12. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Penn State 37 (Owusu 6), Iowa 49 (Clark 10). Assists: Penn State 12 (Owusu 3), Iowa 21 (Clark 7). Steals: Penn State 6 (Kapinus 2), Iowa 7 (Marshall 3). Turnovers: Penn State 15, Iowa 12.

Attendance: 18,481.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com