By Michael McCurdy
After the Iowa women’s basketball team defeated Michigan State in its first game without starting point guard Tania Davis, a new sense of swagger grew in the team as it headed to Columbus for a Sunday matchup with No. 13 Ohio State.The task was tall and all signs pointed to a Buckeye blowout, but the Hawkeyes battled and battled but eventually fell, 88-81.
“I think we came in with silly confidence,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in a press conference. “If the freshmen knew what they were up against, they probably wouldn’t have come out with a lot of confidence.”
While starting three freshmen, one sophomore and one senior, Iowa kept it close the entire game, leaning on the play of senior Ally Disterhoft. She led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 22 points, going 8-of-14 on field goals.
On the road it’s always vital for team leaders such as Disterhoft to step up, because it gives a sense of comfort for the underclassmen to leave their mark on the game, such as freshman Makenzie Meyer.
Meyer was the team’s third-leading scorer with 16 points, going an impressive 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-3 behind the 3-point line.
Recently, a common theme for the Hawkeyes has been playing teams with one or two players who require Iowa’s full-blown attention. On Feb. 9, it was Tori Jankoska for Michigan State, and it looked like Iowa was going to keep her from breaking out until late in the game, when she single-handedly sent the Spartans into overtime.
Against Ohio State, the Hawkeyes were granted the opportunity of stopping one of the Big Ten’s best in Kelsey Mitchell. For most of the game, Iowa kept her in check, but like Jankoska, Mitchell was able to find her game late, propelling the Buckeyes to victory.
“You know, that’s been happening to us a lot lately, going up against some of the best scorers in the conference,” Bluder said. “Great scorers like Kelsey just keep going, they keep believing that the next one is going in. You can’t give them an inch.”
Even though Iowa left Columbus in defeat, there were moral victories won on the court. Playing without Davis, the Hawkeyes had to rely on freshman Kathleen Doyle to guide the offense while being up against an experienced Ohio State backcourt.
Doyle finished the game with 6 assists and only 2 turnovers, forgetting the couple of assists that were lost because of sophomore Megan Gustafson struggling to finish some shots around the rim.
To keep the game competitive against the Buckeyes, Iowa somehow had to find offense to make up for the 11 points per game it got from Davis.
Usually, the Hawkeyes rely on Gustafson down low to bully her way to 20 or more points, but that was not the case in Columbus.
Instead, Gustafson struggled from the field going 6-of-16 on the night and tallying 17 points. This created open doors for other players to step up and contribute, such as Meyer with 16 and Doyle with 11.
The contributions did not end there — off-the-bench senior Alexa Kastanek added 7 points, and junior Chase Coley tallied 6 points.
“We had 16 assists today; I think we’re very conscious of spreading the floor and making that one extra pass,” Bluder said. “I think we understand the value of team basketball, and I’m proud of their effort.”