Iowa women’s basketball loses 42-game home win streak in thrilling loss to No. 15 Ohio State

The Iowa women’s basketball team fell to Ohio State in overtime, 84-82, to move to 8-3 on the season and 4-3 in the Big Ten.

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Hannah Kinson

Iowa guard Caitlin Clark attempts to shoot a basket during a women’s basketball game against Ohio State on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021 at Carver Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes were defeated by the Buckeyes in overtime, 82-84.

Chloe Peterson, Sports Reporter


The last time the Iowa women’s basketball team lost in Carver-Hawkeye Arena was on Jan. 28, 2018, when the Hawkeyes lost to Nebraska, 92-74. Coming into Wednesday’s game, the Hawkeyes held a 42 game home-win streak, second in the nation only to Baylor.

The Hawkeyes lost a thriller to No. 15 Ohio State in overtime at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, 84-82, to reset the streak.

Iowa led for most of the game, until Ohio State took over the lead with 1:20 remaining in regulation. The Hawkeyes were able to battle back to force the game into overtime, but in the end, they weren’t able to overcome the Buckeyes.

For Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder, losing the streak was less about the current Hawkeyes and more about the alumni.

“It’s not something that we really talked about, quite honestly,” Bluder said. “Most of these players weren’t even a part of that, right. For us coaches, it was significant because it had been almost three years since we lost at home in Carver, and I feel like we just let a lot of people down. We let our fans down, we let our people who had played here for the past three years down, but most of these freshmen and sophomores, they weren’t even a part of all of that.

“We’ll start a new one on Monday night. That’s all we can do.”

Freshman point guard Caitlin Clark was the last Hawkeye to take a shot at the end of regulation and the end of the overtime period, and she wasn’t able to convert on either of her shots.

“Obviously it’s frustrating, but it shouldn’t have even gotten to that point,” Clark said. “We kind of just gave the game away. It would’ve been a huge win for us, beating No. 15 at home, but I think those are tough shots. Sometimes you’re going to make them and sometimes you’re going to miss them.”

Although Bluder had the ball in the hands of one of her most trusted players, she wasn’t satisfied with the shots.

“I think we could’ve attacked and gotten to the free throw line,” Bluder said. “We were in the bonus [at the end of regulation] or taken a shot with a higher percentage than the one we did. I was more frustrated with the one at the end of regulation when we took the shot too early, and then had to play defense for 14 seconds when that was unnecessary. We were fortunate we got out of that.”

Iowa had a sense of déjà vu as they committed 18 turnovers on Wednesday, the same number of turnovers in its loss to Northwestern on Saturday. Ohio State recorded 26 points off Iowa’s turnovers.

“Two games in a row, those turnovers have just really hurt us,” Bluder said.

The Hawkeyes committed most of their turnovers at the end of the regulation period, as they became frantic to keep their dwindling lead. Sophomore forward McKenna Warnock noted the starting five’s relative youth when it comes to staying calm through games.

“We just need to learn how to relax in scary situations,” Warnock said. “Which is difficult, especially when we have mainly sophomores playing, and a freshman point guard. I think it is something we’ll learn as time goes on, but it was definitely our downfall in the end.”

The Hawkeyes will play next on Monday as they take on the Purdue Boilermakers in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m., and the game will be aired on Big Ten Network.