Lexi Fleming scored 24 points to tie for game honors on Saturday afternoon, but the Bowling Green State University women’s basketball team fell, 99-65, to the nationally-ranked University of Iowa in a sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

On the road against the fourth-ranked team in the country, Fleming fell just two points shy of tying her career high, and the 5-5 guard also led the Falcons (5-2) in rebounding, with seven boards.

It marked Fleming’s third 20-point game of the season and the 11th of her career. Fleming has led BGSU in scoring in each of the last five games, and has paced the Falcons in rebounding in three of those five games.

On the season, she leads the team in scoring (17.9 points), rebounding (5.1 rebounds) and steals (three steals), and ranks third in assists (3.3 assists).

Fleming made four three-point field goals in a game for the ninth time in her career. She now has made 129 career triples, and ranks 15th in school history on that list. Fleming now has 876 career points in 70 games, an average of 12.5 points as a Falcon.

Amy Velasco joined Fleming in double digits in the scoring column, with 11 points, and Velasco dished out a team-leading six assists.

Caitlin Clark had 24 points to lead five double-digit scorers for the Hawkeyes (8-1), ranked fourth in the nation in both the Associated Press and USA Today polls.

Bowling Green played a diamond-and-one defense to try to slow Clark, but the rest of Iowa’s offense took advantage. The Hawkeyes (8-1) shot 66.7% from the field for the game and got 72 points inside.

“Seventy-two paint points — those are high-percentage shots,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “In that diamond-and-one, we got layups. You’re going to take layups. If they’re going to take away Caitlin, we’ll take the layup. That’s no big deal.”

Bowling Green coach Fred Chmiel said it was important to try to slow Clark.

“She’s the engine that makes them go,” Chmiel said. “She’s got every award in her closet. It’s imperative you make sure you take care of her and let the chips fall where they may. We weren’t going to allow her to expose us early and get clean looks and get her wheels rolling, because then all aspects of her game take place.”

Bluder said during the first half the Falcons gave the Hawkeyes everything they could handle.

“They’re a pesky little team,” Bluder said of the Falcons. “You have to keep after them.”

Iowa had a 44-27 rebounding edge.

“Their size is overwhelming in the post,” Chmiel said.

Sydney Affolter tied a career high with 14 points for the Hawkeyes, going 7 of 7 from the field.

“We really emphasize passing up a good shot for a great shot,” Affolter said. “I think we had a lot of one-more passes that were great.”

For the Falcons, Sophie Dziekan and Morgan Sharps each came off the bench to score nine points.

The Hawkeyes used an early run to take a big lead and threatened to run away with Saturday’s game, but the Falcons battled back.

BGSU matched Iowa bucket-for-bucket for much of the first 30 minutes, before the hosts used another run late in the third quarter to push the margin to 20 for the first time on the afternoon.

BGSU held Clark to just a 2-for-11 effort from three-point range on the day, with the Falcons hitting eight triples to the Hawkeyes’ six. But, Iowa had a huge advantage in points in the paint on Saturday afternoon.

The Falcons and Iowa played before a sellout crowd of 14,998 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday. That is by far the largest crowd ever to see a BGSU game. The previous record was a throng of 10,048 in a game at Virginia on Dec. 8, 2015.

Former WNBA player Sue Bird and actor Jason Sudeikis were in attendance, sitting together courtside.

Sudeikis brought one of the loudest cheers when he stood and danced after a clip of him dancing in his show “Ted Lasso” was shown on the video screen.

“I got him to sign my ‘Believe’ poster on the door of my office,” Bluder said. “I’ve had that up there for about a month, before I knew he was coming here.”

For the Falcons, Saturday’s Iowa game was the first of what will likely be three games against nationally-ranked teams in the month of December. BGSU hosts South Carolina, currently the number-one team in the nation, on Dec. 19, before heading to Indiana three days later (Dec. 22). The Hoosiers are currently ranked 17th in the country in both polls.

The Falcons came up with steals on Iowa’s first two possessions of the game, but could not capitalize at the other end, and Caitlin Clark opened the game’s scoring with a three-pointer.

Clark, the consensus national player of the year last season, would make just one more triple in the game, going 2-for-11 from long distance against the BG defense.

Velasco opened BGSU’s scoring with a shot in the paint, and after Molly Davis connected on a long-distance shot for the Hawkeyes, Olivia Hill took a Fleming pass and knocked down a corner three.

Iowa’s lead was 6-5 with two and a half minutes gone, but the hosts responded with a five-point trip down the floor, as a foul was called on the Falcons after a UI layup, and Clark took an inbounds pass and hit an and-one layup along with the free throw.

Iowa’s run continued with a pair of three-pointers by Gabbie Marshall and a layup from Addison O’Grady that gave the Hawkeyes a 21-5 lead.

Fleming stopped that run by putting together an impressive sequence. She sidestepped a defender at the top of the arc and drained a three-pointer, then came up with a steal at the other end. Fleming took a return pass from Velasco and knocked down a trailing three to cut the BG deficit to 10, at 21-11.

Velasco found Sophie Dziekan for a reverse layup, and a Dziekan free throw moments later cut the Iowa lead to single digits.

The hosts responded with the next six points, before a Morgan Sharps jumper in the waning seconds made it a 29-16 game after 10 minutes.

Paige Kohler hit a turnaround shot on BG’s first possession of the second quarter, and Fleming knocked down a pair of free throws at the 7:15 mark. Kohler hit a long triple from the right wing, but the Hawkeyes were answering at the other end of the court.

Fleming came up with a steal and breakaway layup, and Sharps hit a nifty runner, but UI kept hitting shots of their own. A Fleming three-point try with under two minutes to go cut BG’s deficit to 48-32 at the half.

Fleming had a game-high 13 points in the first half, with Clark scoring 12 for the Hawkeyes.

Velasco converted a nice driving layup early in the third quarter, then scored late in the shot click several minutes later. The junior then found Dziekan for an easy layup off of an inbounds pass.

The latter bucket was the first of three-straight Dziekan hoops for the visitors. She backed her defender down and scored inside, and after a pair of Fleming free throws, another Dziekan layup made it a 15-point game, at 59-44.

The Hawkeyes hit from the arc, but Velasco spotted Sharps for a long-range shot that returned the margin to 15. But, the hosts then went on a 10-0 run to end the period.

A layup by Sydney Affolter put the margin over 20 points for the first time in the game with under two minutes left in the period, and the Iowa lead was 72-47 after 30 minutes.

Kohler hit a pair of free throws early in the fourth, and Fleming drove the baseline and whipped a sweet pass to a cutting Velasco for a layup. Fleming hit a floater, but the Falcons were unable to keep up with the Iowa offense as the Hawkeyes’ lead grew back into the twenties.

Kohler’s ‘extra pass’ resulted in a Velasco three-pointer, and Fleming hit a long triple off of Hill’s pass.

Fleming drove and converted a layup by getting the ball to spin over the rim and through the hoop, and the fourth-year Falcon phenom hit another layup in the final minute before a Sharps jumper closed the game’s scoring.

Iowa shot 66.7% from the field in the win, going 42-for-63, while BGSU shot 34.3% from the floor.

The Falcons made eight three-point field goals to the Hawkeyes’ six, but Iowa had a huge advantage in points in the paint.

Both teams made nine free throws, with BG shooting 90% (9-of-10) and Iowa 64.3% (9-for-14).

Iowa had a 44-27 rebounding advantage, but the Falcons committed one fewer turnover (13) than the Hawkeyes (14) in the contest.

The Falcons return to the road to face Wright State on Tuesday, Dec. 12, with that game set for an 11 a.m. start.

( — Compiled by the Sentinel-Tribune sports staff with contributions from the Associated Press and BGSU Athletics)