'Should' be one Hawkeye women will win

IOWA CITY - This should be the eye of the hurricane for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Operative word: “Should.”

One Ohio State/Michigan State cycle is over. Another is looming. In the middle of that mayhem is today's game against Indiana. It's a game the 16th-ranked Hawkeyes (14-4 overall, 2-3 Big Ten) should win.

Operative word: “Should.”

These days, “shoulds” are a little more elusive in the Big Ten.

“There really aren't any bottom-dwellers any more,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “There used to be games in which you could pencil in a ‘W,' and if your team didn't get the flu, you were going to get it.”

Indiana (8-9, 2-3) sits alongside Iowa and Purdue in a seventh-place tie in the Big Ten. Both teams lost Thursday.

The Hoosiers lost to Illinois, 74-67, and Iowa dropped a 63-60 heartbreaker at league-leading Michigan State.

Iowa scrambled back from a late eight-point deficit to tie it, just to tumble when Kalisha Keane swished a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

“Obviously, it was a tough loss,” Iowa sophomore Jaime Printy said. “But we're not a team to give up, and we're not a team to hang our heads.”

Printy scored 23 points at East Lansing, 18 in the first half. She has developed into much more than an outside shooter.

“Some people say I'm quicker this year,” she said. “I feel stronger and quicker.”

Jori Davis leads Indiana at 18.4 points per game. She has shot 143 free throws, making 111.