Addie Deal found perfection beyond the arc Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, splashing all four of her three-pointers as the Iowa women’s basketball team took down Oregon in a wire-to-wire victory. The first-year Deal tallied a career-high 18 points as the Hawkeyes defeated the Ducks, 74-66, to remain undefeated in Big Ten action.
Deal tied senior Hannah Stuelke as Iowa’s (15-2, 6-0) high-scorers. The duo were followed by Ava Heiden with 13, Kylie Feuerbach with 11, and Chit-Chat Wright with nine. Iowa shot 46 percent from the field but 41 percent from distance.
Deal scored in double-figures three times this season before Thursday. She came off the bench with just under four minutes to go in the first quarter and connected on each of her two attempts from the floor as the Hawkeyes took an 18-12 lead after the frame. Deal tallied 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting as Iowa held a four-point advantage at halftime.
“I was comfortable with it, didn’t hesitate,” Deal said in her postgame interview on FS1.
The two teams battled early in the third quarter as Oregon’s Katie Fiso nailed a jumper to make it a seven-point game with 4:35 remaining.
Iowa then closed the period on a 16-5 run, started by a triple from Wright, free throws from Feuerbach, five points from Deal, and a 13-foot jumper from Stuelke to take a 16-point lead into the fourth. Iowa led by double-digits throughout the fourth until a late 13-3 run from Oregon put the Ducks within single digits with 2:19 remaining. Heiden responded with a layup off a dime from Stuelke, who finished with a team-high eight assists along with eight rebounds, second only to Heiden.
Deal’s 18 points were the most by a Hawkeye freshman in a single game in conference play since Caitlin Clark in March 2021, per HawkeyeSports. Feuerbach returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Dec. 20.
Up Next
Iowa hosts No. 15 Michigan State on Sunday, Jan. 18 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Start time is set for 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network. The Spartans are 17-1 overall and 6-1 in conference, losing to Wisconsin on the road but picking up three ranked wins. Senior forward Grace VanSlooten leads the squad with 14.6 points per game.
The Hawkeyes lead the Spartans, 21-20, in the all-time series and have won four of the last five matchups, including a victory in the Big Ten Tournament last season.