Iowa women’s basketball struggles in first half of Big Ten championship game

The Terrapins led 55-37 at halftime.

Kate Heston

Iowa’s Monkia Czinano (25) takes a shot during the first half of the championship game of the Big Ten women’s basketball tournament. Iowa, ranked No. 6, took on No. 1 seeded Maryland in Indianapolis at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon. (Kate Heston/The Daily Iowan)

Isaac Goffin, Assistant Sports Editor


INDIANAPOLIS — Sixth-seeded Iowa women’s basketball struggled against No. 1 seed Maryland in the first half of the Big Ten championship game, as the Terrapins led 55-37 at halftime.

Maryland scored first with a 3-pointer 13 seconds into the game and never gave the lead to Iowa.

The Terrapins had eight players score in the first half, and Chloe Bibby led them in points with 11.

Iowa shot 46.7 percent from the floor, while Maryland shot 48.8 percent. The Terrapins had 13 more shot attempts. They also got six more rebounds and eight more assists than the Hawkeyes.

The largest lead Maryland had was 55-35 toward the end of the half, and the largest run it went on was 8-0.

The largest run Iowa went on was 7-0.

Maryland was up 29-18 at the conclusion of the first quarter.

Head coach Lisa Bluder called two timeouts in the first half, with one being with 1:08 left in the first quarter and the other being at the 7:54 mark of the second quarter.

Monika Czinano lead the Hawkeyes with 16 points. Caitlin Clark lead with four assists, while three players were tied for the team lead in rebounds with four.

The game is on ESPNU.