By Mario Williams
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With slightly more than five minutes remaining in Carver-Hawkeye on Jan. 4, Iowa guard Alexa Kastanek buried her fifth shot from downtown to break a tie at 61, giving the Hawkeyes a lead they didn’t relinquish.

Coach C. Vivian Stringer’s Rutgers team fought to make a comeback but never came closer than 3 points, and No. 25 Iowa held on, 69-65.

Going into the Big Ten matchup, the Scarlet Knights had allowed its opponents to score only 52.3 points per game. The Hawkeyes sealed the deal with 54.5 percent shooting to stay undefeated at home and remain one of three teams without a conference loss (Ohio State, Purdue).

Kastanek led Iowa with 20 points, shooting 5-of-11 from the field, 5-of-10 from the 3-point line.

The game was historic; Rutgers coach Stringer, a beloved former Hawkeye coach who resurrected the program, appeared in Carver-Hawkeye for the first time since the Knights joined the Big Ten. The game was also be the only time the teams will meet in the regular season.

In the first half, it wasn’t easy going for the Hawkeyes. Despite shooting 63.6 percent from the field to Rutgers’ 54.8 percent, Iowa committed 16 turnovers, which led to 19 Rutgers points.

Hawkeye fans were treated to a much better approach in the second half. Rutgers’ Rachel Hollivay kept her team in the game with three quick lay-ups to start the second half. However, once the Hawks slipped into a zone defense, Hollivay wound up in foul trouble, with 3 more fouls in the second (4 for the game). As a team, the Knights racked up 7 fouls resulting in 19 Hawk free-throw attempts in the second half, with freshman Tania Davis going 6-of-6 at the foul line.

Iowa collected 17 rebounds from both ends of the floor to keep its hopes alive in the second half. While the Knights kept the intensity up, the Hawks led through much of the fourth quarter. Because of Rutgers’ missed shots, Iowa took advantage and held on. The Knights shot 32.4 percent from the field in the second half (12-of-37), 2-of-7 (28.6 percent) from behind the arc.

Iowa has won 25-consecutive games at Carver-Hawkeye and sits at 2-0 in the conference.

The Hawks will next play Michigan on Jan. 7 in Ann Arbor.