The No. 22 Iowa women’s basketball team overcame in-state rival Northern Iowa’s second-half comeback attempt to secure a 92-86 home victory on Friday.
Lucy Olsen logs 21 points, seven assists, and six rebounds to lead the way for Iowa. Addison O’Grady finished with 18 points and six rebounds, followed by Taylor McCabe and Hannah Stuelke’s 15 points apiece.
Guard Maya McDermott led Northern Iowa with 30 points on 12-of-26 shooting.
“I’m very happy,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said postgame. “Winning is hard, no matter who you play. It’s hard. And in-state rivalry games are really hard.”
First Half
Olsen put Iowa on the board first with a pull-up jumper from the mid range, and Stuelke’s no-look pass to Sydney Affolter for the wide open three gave the Hawkeyes an early 5-0 advantage.
Northern Iowa responded swiftly with a few buckets inside to pull some momentum in their favor, but Iowa followed up with a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to take a 13-point lead late in the first quarter.
“They’re so good,” UNI head coach Tanya Warren said. “They’re good inside, they’re good outside. They do a terrific job passing the ball, making the extra pass. We just tried to keep them off balance.”
The Hawkeyes went over three minutes without a made field goal to end the quarter, while the Wildcats logged four points in the final minute. Despite this, Iowa held the 23-12 lead after the first 10 minutes of play.
Iowa began the second quarter on a 9-2 run in just over two minutes with scoring contributions from Olsen, Stuelke, and O’Grady. A Guyton save off the miss to O’Grady led to a catch-and-shoot three from Teagan Mellegnin, giving the Hawkeyes a 35-17 lead.
UNI’s Maya McDermott knocked down a couple of shots to lead a 6-0 scoring run. While the Wildcats found some rhythm on offense, the Hawkeyes regained theirs, hitting seven of its last nine shots including inside buckets from O’Grady and Taylor Stremlow and outside makes from McCabe.
Iowa covered enough ground early on to maintain a 53-37 lead heading into the break despite UNI’s late surge.
Second Half
Olsen scored the first two Iowa baskets from inside the arc, but Northern Iowa followed up with a 7-0 run to cut the lead down to 10 before an Olsen three broke the ice.
A couple of sloppy turnovers by the Hawkeyes led to two made baskets for the Panthers, further cutting the deficit to eight points with 5:30 to go in the third quarter. Both teams traded buckets before a McCabe triple and a Mallegni defensive stop brought life back into the sold-out crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
“People who know me know that’s going to be my strength,” McCabe said of her three-point shooting. “That’s where I’m going to do my thing. That’s what’s going to continue to work for me.”
The Hawkeyes hit just one of its last seven shots and went scoreless through the last 2:36 of the quarter. UNI won the quarter, 25-17, but Iowa held the 70-62 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
The Panthers began the final frame on a tear with a Kauba Laube layup and a pair of free throws, cutting the Hawkeye edge down to just four points – the shortest margin since the first quarter. Iowa quickly responded back with two O’Grady buckets to extend the lead to eight.
UNI’s resilience raged on with a 6-0 run to shorten the Iowa lead to two. O’Grady knocked in two free throws to take a four-point lead, but McDermott continued her scoring surge with a clutch triple to bring the deficit back to one point.
But the Hawkeyes refused to lose.
McCabe buried a clutch three moments later, and Olsen scored an easy bucket on the next possession to push the game back in Iowa’s favor. Stuelke punctuated the victory with a late four-point run and a block to send the Hawkeye faithful into a frenzy.
Iowa finished the contest at the free-throw line, and the Hawkeyes escaped with a win, moving to 10-2 on the season.
“I think we’ve had a lot of close games this season, so that’s prepared us to this point,” Olsen said. “Everyone just stayed together. We trust in each other, we got a few stops that we needed, a few tough buckets.”
Up Next
The Hawkeyes will have a break through the holidays before they host Purdue on Dec. 29 at 2 p.m. The Boilermakers hold a 6-5 record and sit at the 10th spot in the Big Ten standings.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on Big Ten Plus.