The women’s basketball team also loses to Iowa Sate by 3 points despite Ally Disterhoft’s career mark.
By Rod Engblom
The Hawkeyes lost to Iowa State on Dec. 11, losing, 69-66, after giving up an 8-point lead in the fourth quarter.
With that loss, the Hawkeyes are now 8-2.
“It shouldn’t have come down to us having to get a 3-point play,” head coach Lisa Bluder said in a release. “We had a lead coming into the fourth quarter and unfortunately, just didn’t play a fourth quarter. We played really well for three quarters, but it’s a four-quarter game.”
After a slow first quarter, Iowa outscored the Cyclones in the next two periods and held the lead going into the fourth.
But when the fourth quarter came, the Hawkeyes allowed Iowa State to score 23 points, the most points the Hawkeyes allowed in a single quarter all game.
“They out rebounded us by 7, they had 13 offensive rebounds,” Bluder said in a release. “Our defense wasn’t very good in that fourth quarter.”
Despite of how well the Hawkeyes played during the first three quarters, the parts of their game that they had trouble with in the past such as rebounding and defense came back to haunt them in the end.
Junior Seanna Johnson of the Cyclones capitalized on Iowa’s lack of defense and rebounding.
“We just didn’t have an answer to stop Seanna Johnson from attacking the rim,” Bluder said in a release. “Every time she attacked, she got a 3-point play the old-fashioned way. She would get to the line whenever she converted the basket. We couldn’t keep her off the boards, either; she had 4 offensive rebounds.”
Johnson scored 22 points on 12 shots and posted a double-double. She had 10 rebounds — 4 offensive — and had a huge impact on the court throughout the game. Surprisingly, none of the 5-10 guard’s points were 3-point attempts, an area in which she has been good all season.
In the loss, junior Ally Disterhoft set a career scoring mark.
She scored 26 points, shooting 8-of-18 in the field with one three pointer and three assists. Not only was her offense strong, she had 3 blocked shots and 4 steals giving her a solid night on the defensive side as well.
Despite the bitter loss against their archrival in a tough environment at the Hilton Coliseum, the Hawkeyes look forward to correct the mistakes they made.
“It’ll be good for us to have been through this environment as we go into the Big Ten season,” Bluder said in a statement. “We would have enjoyed a win a lot more, taking that experience with us with the win, but again we are a young team.”
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