By Michael McCurdy
Riding a two-game winning streak, the Iowa women’s basketball team hopes to stay aboard the “W” train on Jan. 29 when it takes on powerhouse Maryland on the road.
The Terrapins pose a major roadblock, sitting at 19-1 overall 7-0 in the Big Ten. That’s not the only aspect of Maryland that is intimidating — the Terrapins are ranked No. 3 in the country.
Fortunately for the Hawkeyes, they’ve already had a taste of Maryland earlier this season, in which they produced one of their best first-half performances of the year. But that noise quickly diminished in the second half, when Maryland took back control and won, 98-82.
Having experience against Maryland should help the Hawkeyes in preparation, but they’ll have to stop the Wooden and Naismith watch-list star Brionne Jones if they want to even think about winning.
“I think Brionna Jones is one of the best centers in, not only the Big Ten, but in America,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “She has tremendous footwork. I said it earlier in the week, she’s so efficient with her footwork. She does such a great job of feeling. She’s really a textbook post player that you really want to watch clips of because she’s so good.”
Stopping Jones is a good start, but the Hawkeyes will have to step up their game defensively in all areas; in the two teams’ first contest, Iowa gave up a whopping 98 points.
The difficulty, though, is Maryland has a numer of offensive weapons besides Jones. Senior guard Shatori Walker-Kimbrough is a nightmare for defenders. She has the ability to take defenders off the dribble, even when she’s not hitting from 3, because of her quickness. She averages 18.7 points in conference play, so Iowa must cut off her driving lanes to the hoop.
As a whole, the game is going to come down to Iowa’s defense. In the first contest, Maryland outrebounded Iowa 44-30, giving the Terrapins many opportunities for second-chance points. Iowa’s leading rebounder, sophomore Megan Gustafson, must focus a lot of her energy on boxing out Jones to control the glass.
“I put a lot of focus on rebounding and being able to get that mindset to my teammates,” she said. “Rebounding opens up a lot of fast-break transition opportunities, which contributes to everything else.”
If the Hawkeyes are able to limit Maryland’s second-chance points and stop Jones, their next area of focus is getting Ally Disterhoft’s shooting hand hot again.
In Big Ten road games, Disterhoft is 8-of-29 on field goals, a worrisome statistic for the Hawkeyes, who need her offensive production to win on the road.
“Obviously, it’s been frustrating, just because I had been shooting the ball so well before Big Ten play started,” Disterhoft said. “You kind of just need a shooter’s mentality; you have to keep thinking the next one is going in, which is why I’m definitely not going to stop shooting it.
“The team has a lot of confidence in me. I know at times they need me to step up and score, but if it’s not there, I’m going to try my best to set up my teammates.”
