Things just haven’t been going the Iowa women’s hoops team’s way recently.
On Monday night in Minneapolis, the Hawks fell victim to a Minnesota game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer from Rachel Banham to lose, 78-76.
The loss dropped Iowa to 15-11 overall this season, 5-9 in the Big Ten.
Banham, who scored 60 points on Feb. 8 against Northwestern, dropped 35 points to go with 9 rebounds and 8 assists against the Hawkeyes.
After the game, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder had high praise for the Minnesota star.
“Rachel Banham is a special player,” she said in a release. “She was tough to guard, and you knew she was going to be the one that took that last shot.”
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Overshadowed by the stunning defeat was Hawkeye freshman forward Megan Gustafson’s huge night. Gustafson corralled 19 rebounds along with 14 points and added 3 assists.
Gustafson’s rebounding total was the most for any Hawkeye player since Sam Logic collected 17 boards during a game in 2013.
“Megan did a great job on the boards,” Bluder said in the release. “I don’t think anyone has had 19 rebounds in a lot of years.”
As has been the story recently, the Hawkeyes possessed a 13-point lead at the 8:37 mark in the third quarter. But the Gophers came charging back to take a 62-60 lead with 7:57 left in the game.
The frantic fourth quarter saw Minnesota extend its advantage to 69-64, but the Hawkeyes came back and retook the lead on two Tania Davis free throws with 18.9 seconds left. Davis ended the game with 8 points and 5 assists.
After once again losing the lead, a go-ahead jumper by junior guard Ally Disterhoft put the Hawks up 76-75 with eight seconds on the clock. Disterhoft turned in her usual impressive stat line, ending the night with 20 points and 5 rebounds.
However, that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Minnesota’s Banham was able to break free of Hawkeye defenders, draining the 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded.
Other scorers for the Hawkeyes included Chase Coley (21 points), Whitney Jennings (8), and Kali Peschel (5).
Iowa shot just 39.4 percent from the field, Minnesota 45.2 percent. The Hawkeyes connected on only 4-of-19 from 3-point land (21.1 percent). The Gophers hit 10-of-19 3s (52.6 percent). Iowa outrebounded Minnesota, thanks in large part to freshman Gustafson, 46-38. However, they lost the turnover battle with 13 compared with the Gophers’ 10.
The next game for Iowa will come at home against Purdue on Thursday night. Despite the recent losses, Bluder remained confident after Monday night’s loss that her team can finish the season strong.
“If we come back and practice hard and get prepared for Purdue, we can have a great victory on Thursday night on our home court,” Bluder said in the release. “Being on our home court is going to be great.”