The Iowa women’s basketball team controlled its destiny heading into the final two games of the season.

If No. 6 Iowa won its games against No. 7 Maryland on Tuesday and No. 2 Indiana on Sunday, the Hawkeyes would’ve been co-regular season Big Ten champions with the Hoosiers.

But the Hawkeyes lost that chance on Tuesday in a 96-68 loss to the Terrapins in College Park, Maryland.

The Hawkeyes fell down early and couldn’t claw back from an atrocious second-quarter showing — Maryland outscored Iowa, 27-8, in the second stanza.

“Definitely a disappointed locker room in there with the performance tonight,” assistant coach Abby Stamp said on the Hawkeye Radio Network. “If we could get the second quarter back, we might be able to make things a little bit different. That’s really where we kind of took a dive, and we really struggled offensively there.” 

Terrapins contain Clark, Czinano

Junior guard Caitlin Clark and fifth-year senior center Monika Czinano scored 70 combined points in Iowa’s 96-82 win over Maryland on Feb. 2 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Maryland managed to rein in the duo on Tuesday, however, as they combined for just 22 points — 18 from Clark and four from Czinano.

“They denied the heck out of her,” head coach Lisa Bluder said of Maryland guarding Clark in a postgame press conference. “They face-guarded her the whole time. That was great, they did a really good job with that. That was really the best we’ve seen all year … Somebody in front of her, somebody behind her the whole time.”

Hawkeyes struggle defending 3-point line

Iowa came into the game ranking 62nd in 3-point defense, allowing just a 28.6 percent clip from beyond the arc.

The Terrapins found the holes in the Hawkeyes’ defensive scheme on Tuesday, going 14-for-26 from beyond the arc — good for 53.8 percent. 

The Terrapins also held the Hawkeyes, who average 37.36 shooting beyond the arc, to 29 percent shooting from three. 

Marshall finds 3-point shot

Senior guard Gabbie Marshall, who announced she is returning for the 2023-24 season on Monday, found her 3-point shot again on Tuesday night.

Marshall has been struggling beyond the arc this season, shooting just 29 percent — compared to 39 percent in 2021-22 and 47 percent in 2020-21.

But the Cleveland, Ohio, product went 5-for-10 from the 3-point line on Tuesday night, totaling 15 points.

“I thought just all night she had a really outstanding game,” Stamp said. “… Gabbie got more looks tonight with the way the defense was playing — their strategy was to give those looks to Gabbie, [Kate Martin, and McKenna Warnock] — and Gabbie really knocked them down.”

Big picture

Iowa’s loss on Tuesday cements Indiana as outright Big Ten regular season champions. Iowa has a 14-3 conference record following its loss to Maryland, while Indiana is 16-1.

“This is a tough one, because we know what it could have set up for us on Sunday,” Stamp said. “But it’s still going to be a huge crowd, really big game. It’ll be fun to have Indiana back in there, and it won’t take anything special for us to get them fired up to get Indiana back on our home floor.”

Up next

Iowa will finish out the regular season against No. 2 Indiana at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday at 1 p.m.

College GameDay’s women’s basketball show will air live from the Carver floor from 10-11 a.m. ahead of the game. Doors will open for fans at 9 a.m., and ticketed fans can leave and reenter the arena between the show and tip off at 1 p.m.

Iowa will also honor seniors Monika Czinano and McKenna Warnock in a postgame ceremony.