Women's basketball loses to Iowa, 84-75

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder wanted to send a message in Iowa’s rematch against IU.

The Hoosiers upset then-No.22 Iowa at Assembly Hall earlier this month. All week, Bluder emphasized not overlooking IU again in the rematch.

Message received.

Iowa defeated IU 84-75 in Iowa City, Iowa Saturday night, handing IU its fourth loss in five games.

“(I'm) disappointed ultimately with the loss tonight because we did a lot to ourselves,” IU Coach Curt Miller said.

The Hawkeyes (16-4, 4-3) began the game on a 13-3 run. Nine of those early points came from 3-pointers, including a pair from junior guard Melissa Dixon.

Iowa found success on the offensive end through ball movement. The Hawkeyes exploited IU’s 2-3 zone early on, allowing the Hawkeyes to make an extra pass to find an open shooter.

Iowa ended the game with 15 assists on 28 made field goals.

IU (15-5, 2-5) cut Iowa’s lead to 36-34 after a layup from Karlee McBride. Senior Simone Deloach got fouled shortly after and went to the line to shoot a one-and-one with a chance to tie the game.

Deloach missed the front end and Iowa grabbed the rebound. Senior guard Taylor Theirra drew a foul on the other end and hit a pair of free-throws to extend Iowa’s lead to 38-34.

“I thought that was a big moment in the game,” Miller said.

The Hoosiers would not get within two points again the rest of the game.

IU’s offense was plagued with turnovers throughout the night. The Hoosiers entered the game averaging a Big Ten best 12 turnovers per game, but committed 22 Saturday. Those 22 turnovers led to 29 Iowa points.

“Turnovers were a big difference in the game,” Miller said. “It’s just so hard to defend turnovers. They are a good transition team so when you turn the ball over it’s really difficult to guard that.”

Those turnovers were most evident in the opening minutes of the second half. IU trailed by only five points at halftime, but committed three consecutive turnovers within the opening two minutes of the second half.

The stall in IU’s offense allowed Iowa to go on a 16-7 run to pull ahead 60-46. Iowa was able to hold the lead out of IU’s grasp for the rest of the game.

The Hoosiers called a timeout after cutting Iowa’s lead to ten points with 1:57 remaining, but Iowa’s Melissa Dixon nailed a 3-pointer after the timeout to put the game away.

Freshmen guard Taylor Agler had a standout night for IU. She shot six-of-eight from beyond the 3-point line en route to scoring a career-high 21 points.

“She hunted for shots tonight and was really aggressive tonight offensively, and we really needed that,” Miller said of Agler.

Saturday’s game against Iowa was the last of a stretch of five games in 11 days, four of which were losses on the road.

Miller said he will give his team a few days off and then welcome back a more routine schedule.

“We survived, we got through that stretch,” Miller said. “We’ll get back to work with this young group and attack it and try not to be discouraged.”