Iowa needs a win streak to return to NCAA

IOWA CITY — The math has become clear and simple:

The Iowa Hawkeyes must run the table now, or later.

With nine losses in their last 12 games, the Hawkeyes (15-11 overall, 5-9 Big Ten) find themselves backed into a corner. To make the NCAA women's basketball tournament for the ninth consecutive year, there are two plausible options:

* Four straight wins to conclude the regular season would probably do it.

'Maybe I'm looking through rose-colored glasses, but I still think we have a chance,' Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'If we compete with the same intensity we did (in a 78-76 loss at Minnesota on Monday), we can play with almost anybody in the conference.'

* Gain an automatic bid by winning the Big Ten tournament. This is less likely, because it would probably entail beating both Ohio State and Maryland along the way.

At first blush, the way things are headed, a 4-0 Big Ten conclusion sounds like a stretch. But there aren't any untouchables left, and three of them are at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, starting Thursday night against Purdue (16-9, 7-7). Tipoff is 7 p.m.

'They shot the lights out last time (in a 90-73 Purdue win Jan. 24),' Bluder said. 'Our defense just has to be better.'

Like Iowa, the Boilermakers are skidding. They've lost four straight games and seven of their last nine after a 5-0 Big Ten start.

Iowa finishes the regular season with a home game against Indiana on Sunday, then a road battle with Penn State and a home test with Illinois next week.

'We're due to beat these teams,' Ally Disterhoft said. 'We believe we're better than we've shown. We're better than some of the teams we've lost to. It just comes down to execution down the stretch.'

Freshmen Megan Gustafson and Tania Davis have continued to grow. Gustafson has earned double-doubles in four of her last five games.

'My main goal is to contribute and to win,' she said. 'I want to give the team as many second-chance opportunities as possible.'

Davis earned the defensive assignments on Ohio State's Kelsey Mitchell and Minnesota's Rachel Banham in the last week.

'That's asking a lot of a freshman,' Bluder said. 'Tania doesn't back down from any challenge I give her.'

Expect to see Davis shadowing Purdue's April Wilson on Thursday. A 5-foot-7 guard, Wilson leads the Boilermakers at 14.6 points and 5.9 assists per game.

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