By Jake Mosbach
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The mood in the media room in Carver-Hawkeye was light after the Iowa women’s basketball team’s 76-73 win over Indiana on Sunday afternoon.
Head coach Lisa Bluder, forward Chase Coley, and guards Ally Disterhoft and Tania Davis sat next to each other recapping the events of the game and sharing laughs.
The win — the team’s second in a row — energized the crowd of nearly 10,000 on Sunday afternoon. The Hawks exited the court to a roaring ovation. And when freshman Tania Davis spoke about her performance, she couldn’t hide her smile.
That’s something that has appeared just recently with these Hawkeyes. They’re having fun.
“Having fun has definitely helped us win these last two games,” Davis said. “We’re just taking it one game at a time, just staying focused on the next one at hand and having fun collectively while doing it.”
The fun hasn’t been confined to just the media room or locker room. It’s evident on the court that the Hawks are playing relaxed and loose.
Behind-the-back-passes, exuberant celebrations, and raucous crowds have all made appearances in the last week. During the Feb. 18 win over Purdue, Davis dropped an unexpected behind-the-back assist to sophomore Whitney Jennings in the closing minutes.
The Iowa bench erupted in excitement. Jennings and Davis beamed. After the game, Bluder noted the play.
“As long as [the pass] gets there,” Bluder said and laughed. “I’m an old-fashioned, fundamental jump-stop kind of girl. But you know something — they also have to have fun.”
There’s no doubt whether the players are having fun right now. What’s even better is that they’re playing solid basketball at the same time.
With the Big Ten Tournament beginning on March 2, they’ll need to play their best basketball in their final two games. The Hawks take on Penn State on Wednesday and Illinois on Saturday to close out the regular season.
Disterhoft knows that it’s crunch time for her team. With a 7-9 conference record (17-11 overall), Iowa is an NCAA Tournament bubble team. The Iowa City native remembers the beginning of Big Ten play when the team was unable to hold on to big leads.
They were playing uptight; scared. The past two games, however, it’s been quite the opposite.
“Earlier this season we weren’t able to close out games, and to be able to withstand a couple of runs these past few games and still be able to close them out and get the wins has been huge for us,” Disterhoft said.
There have even been rumors that Bluder has joined in on the locker room fun. After the win over Purdue, the 16th-year Iowa head coach, at the direction of her players, took part in the popular dance known as “the dab.”
Her players loved every minute of it.
“[Chase Coley] always tries to get me to dance,” Bluder said. “If you call that dancing … I don’t know.”