By Michael McCurdy
A season record-breaking crowd of more than 7,000 attended the Iowa women’s basketball game on Jan. 21 against Minnesota, and it was only fitting, because the fans got to see a barn-burner that the Hawkeyes won, 80-65.
Back and forth was the story early on, with the Gophers and Hawkeyes consistently answering each other for the first quarter until Iowa hit an offensive dry spell for part of the second quarter.
Both the Hawkeyes and Gophers got open jump shots, it was just a matter of who was making them, and at that moment the Hawkeyes could not find the bottom of the net.
To energize the Hawkeyes at the halfway point in the quarter, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder switched to player defense, and as a result, the Hawkeyes got their swagger back and pulled within 1 point at half, 36-35.
Coming out of half, it seemed Iowa made all the necessary adjustments to propel them to victory, and unfortunately for Minnesota, it never could conjure an answer.
“I guess I’d like to do it right from the start if we could, that would be nice,” Bluder said. “But coming out with strong effort in that third quarter and giving yourself a cushion going into the fourth quarter is certainly a good thing.”
The key for how the Hawkeyes were able to finally distance themselves was the that the players made an effort to score points in the paint.
In the first half, Iowa tallied 16 points in the paint; in the third quarter, Iowa scored 14 points down low.
Sophomore guard Tania Davis recognized Minnesota was in a zone, and one of the best ways to break down a zone is guard penetration. She was able to drive past the Minnesota guards and hit sophomore power forward Megan Gustafson down low tallying 8 assists on the night, 2 away from a double-double.
“I definitely feel like I’ve got my mojo back,” Davis said. “First half I kind of got down on myself, but my great teammates, coaching staff, and everyone on the bench has the utmost confidence in me. So I just don’t want to let them down.”
The Hawkeyes never looked back from there, after executing more efficiently offensively and shutting down Minnesota standout guard Carlie Wagner to 6-of-20 shooting on field goals.
After the head-scratching loss on the road at Penn State, Iowa has now put together four impressive games, coming away 3-1 in the bunch. With a young team, it shows growth and maturity as the Hawkeyes continue to not back down and improve as the course of the season carries on.
“Yeah, I would say we’ve put together four really good team games,” senior Ally Disterhoft said. “This gives us a lot of confidence going forward, I think we’ve been making progress all year, and I think just like coach said earlier, we’re playing really great team basketball.
“We have a great inside game and are developing our outside game. It’s fun to hit the next person when she’s open. So, I think we all feel really good about that but want to continue getting better every single day.”