After almost every possession in the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 82-69 loss to Penn State Wednesday, one or more players could be found on the Carver-Hawkeye floor.
It didn’t matter whether they wore black and gold or blue and white. Someone ended up with her back on the hardwood.
The crowd in the arena grew more and more restless with every whistle, often voicing their apparent displeasure with the officials.
The game featured 46 personal fouls between the two teams. Two players, Iowa’s Kali Peschel and Penn State’s Jaylen Williams, fouled out of the contest.
The physical nature of the game wasn’t unexpected. Head coach Lisa Bluder said in her press conference on Jan. 18 that her team knew just how tough the Nittany Lions could be. But at times Wednesday night, Bluder’s Hawkeyes were seemingly bullied out of rebounds and loose balls. Bluder certainly took note.
“We have got to box out better,” the coach said. “And it’s our defense — we just came out and played lackluster defense.”
On the offensive end, the Hawks were fairly careful with the ball, combating a relentless Nittany Lion defense that smothered the frontcourt. Iowa turned the ball over only 12 times, down from 18 turnovers against Michigan State on Jan. 16.
While Penn State’s guard play was superb against the Hawks, its inside game was a force to be reckoned with. Forward Peyton Whitted collected 14 points on 5-of-6 shooting to go along with 10 rebounds.
Iowa sophomore forward Chase Coley, who was given the task of handling Whitted for most of the night, acknowledged that something was missing on Wednesday evening.
“I feel like we have to start playing with more emotion on the court,” Coley said. “All of us can get down sometimes, and we’ve got to start taking these losses to heart.”
Coley’s inside counterpart, freshman Megan Gustafson, struggled against Penn State’s physicality, scoring 5 points on 2-of-5 shooting.
With the massive number of fouls throughout the game came frequent visits to the free-throw line. The Hawkeyes struggled there as well, unable to take advantage. They shot just 65 percent from the line, hitting 17-of-26 freebies. Penn State seized the opportunities at the charity stripe, shooting 87.5 percent (21-of-24).
Junior Ally Disterhoft, the Hawkeyes’ on-court leader, added 16 points against the Nittany Lions and often wound up at the bottom of the loose-ball pile. Late in the fourth quarter, the game had to be delayed while Disterhoft replaced her contact after being poked in the eye.
After receiving a new contact, the Iowa City native returned to the court to a thunderous applause from the Hawkeye faithful.
A stoic Disterhoft sat alongside Coley and Bluder at the post-game press conference table, her eye still appearing slightly red. But her own well-being wasn’t a concern.
She was thinking about getting better.
“Collectively, we have to play better defense,” Disterhoft said. “We have to be able to stop a drive and play proper help-side.”