By Mario Williams
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After falling by 20 points to No. 8 Maryland in Carver-Hawkeye on Jan. 10, the Hawkeyes went on the road Jan. 13 and snared a win against Wisconsin, 57-54.
The Hawkeyes needed a victory after losing two-straight Big Ten games, the other being an 82-75 loss to Michigan in Ann Arbor on Jan. 7. The win over the Badgers is the only time the Hawks will compete against Wisconsin in regular-season play.
Iowa led for most of the game, notching 40 points in the second and third quarters and leading 51-35 after three, but the Hawks scored only 6 points in the final quarter. Wisconsin hit 19 points in the fourth, 3 shy of catching the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes led by only 2 with 52 seconds left, but the Badgers failed to score again, and Iowa’s Chase Coley hit 1-of-3 free throws with 18 seconds remaining to seal the win.
“We did struggle again in the fourth quarter, and that’s something we’re going to have to figure out,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in a release. “We’ve got to be able to handle that.”
With 19 seconds remaining, Wisconsin’s Avyanna Young had an opportunity to tie the game with a lay-up, but she missed.
Wisconsin’s Nicole Bauman (00:06) and Dakota Whyte (00:00) missed shots from downtown that would have tied the game.
Junior Ally Disterhoft, who has scored in double figures in every contest this season, hit 8-of-9 (1-of-1 behind the arc) from the field for 18 points. Sophomore Whitney Jennings added 11 on 4-of-11 shooting, 2-of-4 from 3. Iowa’s bench outscored Wisconsin’s, 14-2, and chipped in 14 rebounds. The Hawks outrebounded the Badgers, 36-28, with Hawk Christina Buttenham coming off the bench to lead her team with 6 in 19 minutes.
The Hawkeyes sit at 13-4 overall, 3-2 in the Big Ten. They will their fifth game with in 12 days against No. 18 Michigan State (12-4, 3-2 Big Ten) in East Lansing on Jan. 16.
“I have not watched Michigan State at all this year, but I imagine they’re playing person-to-person defense as they usually do, and they’re very physical,” Bluder said in a release. “We won by 2 points at their place last year [52-50],so I’m sure we’ll have their full attention going in there. It sure feels better going in with a win.”