The last time the Iowa women’s basketball team won a game was Jan. 31 against Northwestern. It hasn’t been a happy February for the Hawkeyes (15-11, 5-9), but taking revenge on Purdue today in Carver-Hawkeye is the team’s goal to turn that around.
Last time around in West Lafayette (Jan. 24), things weren’t pretty, either. Purdue rolled Iowa, 90-73.
“I think we’re a lot better now than the first time we played them,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Thursday night is going to be a battle.”
Sophomore Christina Buttenham’s performance, with a career high of 14 points, along with a rebound and an assist, wasn’t enough for the Hawkeyes to come away with a win.
Since then, Iowa has won only two games and has undergone a four-game losing streak. The team is hoping to turn around its mistakes from the loss against the Boilermakers.
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The mistakes the team committed in the contest against Purdue are the same mistakes it has recently made. The Hawks turned the ball over 19 times in that contest. In its last four losses, Iowa has turned the ball over 60 times.
“We’ve noticed things that if we would’ve done things differently, that’s what we could change moving forward,” sophomore Chase Coley said. “If you see what you’re doing wrong, you can fix, but it you’re losing, and you don’t know why, then you’re just like, ‘Crap, what do we do?’ But I feel from game to game, we’ve been improving on those things.”
Even though Purdue downed Iowa almost a month ago, the Boilermakers have only won one game since and have lost five. It was probably their most solid game in the Big Ten thus far and probably the season.
However, Bluder still believes Purdue is a worthy opponent coming into this contest.
“They’re probably kind of thinking and licking their lips a little bit, ‘They’ve got Iowa this week,’ ” Bluder said. “That was one of their last good games, really, against us. They’ll come in motivated, and they’ll come in confident knowing they have us.”
Freshman Megan Gustafson has been solid for the Hawkeyes recently, grabbing 19 rebounds in Iowa’s loss against Minnesota. It was the highest number of rebounds by an Iowa player since former Hawk Sam Logic nabbed 17. Gustafson averages 6.3 rebounds per game, which leads the team.
Bluder is expecting that confidence and effort from Gustafson to continue intonight’s game.
“She’s doing some great things for us,” Bluder said. “I’m really happy for her. She does such a great job at just keeping the ball high off an offensive rebound and being able to convert it again. She’s doing very well.”
After this matchup, Iowa has three games left, against Indiana, Penn State, and Illinois. The Hawks have lost to the Hoosiers and the Lions. Ideally, the team’s goal is to finish the season 4-0 and compete well in the Big Ten Tournament.
“The Big Ten season is just a grind,” junior Ally Disterhoft said. “Every game in the Big Ten is going to be a great one. We can’t dwell. We just have to keep looking forward.”