By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY — There had to be one final bow before the curtain descended on historic brilliance.

Caitlin Clark was about to walk to the free-throw line to score her last two points ever at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the show must go on.

She walked to center court, waving her hands to encourage one final eruption from a sellout crowd that did not need coaxing. Then she put her right hand to her right ear to increase the volume, and of course everyone was going to obey.

As the crowd roared, Clark then gave a quick wave goodbye toward where the fans of her opponent were sitting, which drew her a good-natured lecture from official Nykesha Thompson when Clark arrived at the free-throw line.

Then came her first free throw. Then the second.

Good. Good.

Game over, show over, the rest of March just beginning.

And as time ran out on top-seeded Iowa’s 64-54 win over No. 8 seed West Virginia is Monday’s NCAA Tournament second-round game, Clark, going out with a 32-point game, made one final tour around the floor, the stage she has commanded for four seasons, making a heart-shaped symbol with her hands as a thank you to the 14,324 fans who showed up on this night and the thousands more who have walked into this theatre of brilliance every night the last few seasons.

“I would have never left the court if I wasn’t forced to get off,” Clark said.

She had to get off, because there is more to conquer in the coming weeks. The Hawkeyes head to the Albany 2 Regional semifinals on Saturday against fifth seed Colorado because of a victory that was so un-Iowa, one sparked more by defense than an offense that led the nation in scoring at almost 30 points more than what it put up in this game.

Iowa scored six points in the second quarter, had one field goal in the fourth, made just four of the 21 shots in those two quarters.

Asked what would be the chances of getting a win with those kinds of numbers, and Iowa coach Lisa Bluder was shaking her head before the question was finished.

“Yeah, probably not very good,” she said.

But there is something about these Hawkeyes, who have matched their 31-win season of last year and want to add a few more and a national championship to that. The past teaches you how to win the type of games you’ve lost before and gives you confidence that you can win them when needed.

“When you’re in situations and you can use that experience to fall back on, we’re going to use that wherever we can,” Bluder said. “I think that helped us tonight.”

The second round of the NCAA Tournament at home hasn’t been easy for the Hawkeyes in the last two seasons. The loss to Creighton in 2022 was a lesson that helped Iowa defeat Georgia in a bruising game last season. That game gave the confidence to the Hawkeyes in this one that they could survive a similar physical style from the Mountaineers that, while it wasn’t as chippy as what the Bulldogs played one year ago, still could be rather agitating.

“It’s kind of crazy,” guard Kate Martin said. “This game has been rather hard for us the last couple of seasons to get out of Iowa City and make it to the Sweet 16. We knew it was going to be a grind, but being in tough positions before, you have to learn from those and take them into these types of games and these types of pressure situations. You have to stay composed.

“Not freak out, honestly. That’s the name of the game.”

“To be honest, looking back on our journey last year, to me, this is one of the hardest rounds in the NCAA Tournament,” Clark said. “Everyone is really good. You’re expected to win. You’re on your home court. You have all the pressure in the world. They have absolutely nothing to lose to come in here and upset us. That happened my sophomore year, last year we were in a game that was even closer than this one.”

“We didn’t talk about it specifically, but I think it was in everyone’s mind that we were able to pull that out last year,” Bluder said. “I think that gave us confidence.”

This game had that similar push-and-pull, but while the Mountaineers made runs at the Hawkeyes, they could never get a lead.

Iowa let a seven-point first-half lead turn to 26-24 at halftime. The Hawkeyes let a 38-26 lead in the third quarter become a 38-35 margin in less than two minutes. Then, after leading 48-38 going into the fourth quarter, West Virginia went on a 10-0 run that tied the game.

The Mountaineers spent the weekend at Carver-Hawkeye swarming opponents — they slowly dismantled Princeton in the first round and were constantly blanketing the Hawkeyes. They came in as one of the nation’s best at forcing turnovers, and while they forced 15 from Iowa, they only got 19 points out of those.

Still, they were where they wanted to be in the final quarter.

“That defensive effort tonight was, I thought, tremendous and special and to do some of the things statistically to that team for as good as they are offensively, it was a credit to our players,” West Virginia coach Mark Kellogg said. “Of course, I wish we could have made a few more shots and made a few more plays.

“When we were tied with, I think, five minutes to go, that was what we wanted to be. The game went about to script for us as far as holding them down and trying to give ourselves a chance late.”

Then came the Hawkeyes’ lone field goal of the quarter when Sydney Affolter was fouled as she scored on a layup with 2:03 left. Her free throw gave Iowa a 55-52 lead, and then Clark and Hannah Stuelke closed the game with nine free throws over the last 1:07.

Iowa held West Virginia to 33.9 percent shooting. The Mountaineers went almost five minutes late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter without a point, and didn’t score for the final 2:11 of the first half. The Hawkeyes held them to two points in a five-minute stretch to start the third quarter.

“That’s typically not our style, but we found a way and that’s why I’m so proud of this team for being able to divert from what you know usually works for us and find a different way to win,” Bluder said.

There were no big offensive eruptions — Iowa had just five 3-pointers, all by Clark. But they made 25 free throws, compared to three by the Mountaineers, and had a 42-35 edge in rebounds.

“We found a way to win,” Clark said. “We changed up our defenses. We got big rebounds when it mattered. We made big free throws.

“I think that’s the biggest thing. There’s a lot of positives to take away from this when maybe we didn’t even play our best basketball or look as pretty. That’s more fulfilling of a win for us than going out there and winning by 30 points.”

Clark wasn’t even at her best — 8-of-22 shooting, 5-of-14 in 3-pointers. No one seemed to mind.

Clark’s final tour around the court was a walk through her history of big shots, big moments, a journey through the history she’s created with all of the records she has erased. It’s why she had to take that last lap, to say goodbye.

“I’ve always been one to play to the crowd,” Clark said. “That’s just who I am. That’s kind of what I do, an entertainer in a way.”

It wasn’t the usual script for the star and the rest of the cast, but the Hawkeyes do seem to know how to do March rewrites.

Photo: Iowa’s Caitlin Clark gestures after making a 3-pointer in Monday’s NCAA Tournament win over West Virginia. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)