There is no more exciting time for basketball than March Madness — even when it means all but one team in the tournament goes home on a loss. After a red-letter season, the Iowa women’s basketball team fell to Baylor in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament Monday night, 53-85.
The Hawkeyes are heading back to Iowa from Minneapolis today, and supporters are planning a homecoming. After landing at the Eastern Iowa Airport in Cedar Rapids a little after noon, the team is expected to arrive at the Coralville Transit Intermodal Facility (the side facing Von Maur) in the Iowa River Landing at approximately 12:45 p.m.
“It would be great to have people there to welcome the team as they come into town to recognize their accomplishments this amazing season,” Rachel Bedell, the assistant marketing director for the Hawkeye women, said in an email.
Despite clinching the Big 10 championship and handily beating their Sweet 16 rival, NC State, 79-61, Baylor was always going to be a tough opponent for the Hawkeyes. The Waco, Texas team went into the NCAA tournament as the number one seed.
Still, there was at least one big achievement for the Hawkeyes during Monday’s game: senior Megan Gustafson, already the leading scorer in Iowa women’s basketball history, scored her 1,000th point of the season. She is only the fourth player in NCAA history to reach this milestone.
