It came down to the wire, but the Iowa women’s basketball team suffered with its third-straight loss in a 77-72 affair with Minnesota.

The Hawkeyes had a chance to tie the game late; a Kathleen Doyle 3 put the Hawkeyes within 1 with 19 seconds left. After Minnesota hit 2 free throws, Iowa stil had a chance but turned the ball over, essentially ending all hope.

“We had a chance, we were down 3 and were running a 3-point play, but unfortunately, we turned the ball over,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “With 9 seconds left, we had a chance to tie this game and send it into overtime. That’s what you want on the road, to have that opportunity to win, and we had that.”

With 11 ties and 12 lead changes, it was a blow-for-blow match that had fans teetering.

Again, defense was the ultimate spell of doom for the Hawkeyes; for the sixth-straight game, they allowed at least 70 points. Part of the struggles on defense stem from the high number of offensive boards Iowa gives up.

“We gave up too many offensive boards,” Bluder said. “Sometimes, it is hard to box out in the zone, but we gave up 13 offensive rebounds in the first half and 5 in the second half, so we did a much better job in the second half.”

The Gophers scored from every which way. Five players ended the game with double digit points.

Kenisha Bell was especially lethal, netting 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out 7 assists, and recording 3 steals.

For Iowa, the ever-consistent Megan Gustafson snagged her 19th double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Doyle was especially sharp for the Hawkeyes; she put up 21 points, tossed 4 assists, and grabbed 3 rebounds.

A silver lining for Hawkeye fans was that Makenzie Meyer was back in action Sunday night, and she played a full 40 minutes, recording 4 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds.

Sunday’s game marked a seven-game stretch that included five games on the road, which did not treat the Hawkeyes nicely. They finished 3-4 in those seven games.

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The stretch was also the Hawkeyes’ first seven conference games, not an ideal start.

Luckily, Iowa will be at home for most of the rest of its games, and Meyer back on the court should improve their play.

“It will be nice to be back in Carver,” Bluder said. “We’re struggling right now. We need to get back on a winning trail; a good win would solve a lot of problems.”