Arduous trip to Minneapolis ends in Iowa’s fourth straight win

MINNEAPOLIS — Chalk up another win for Team Tarmac.

After a painfully prolonged trip to the Twin Cities, the Iowa Hawkeyes fought through some in-game turbulence as well, and outlasted Minnesota, 68-60, in a Big Ten women’s basketball game before a crowd of 6,721 Thursday night at Williams Arena.

“This is going to be one great memory, especially since we won,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “I’m so thankful we handled adversity and won.”

Iowa (16-7 overall, 6-6 Big Ten) won its fourth straight game, subdued Minnesota for the 11th time in a row and took another giant step toward the NCAA tournament.

The game was a challenge. The previous 24 hours, a headache.

“The flight was awful,” Sydney Affolter said, and that might have been an understatement.

The Hawkeyes bused from campus to the Eastern Iowa Airport at 4 p.m., but icy conditions kept them on (and off) the tarmac for roughly seven hours.

McDonald’s was closed, so Casey’s pizza was the meal of choice.

At 11 p.m. Wednesday, it was deemed unsafe to fly, and the Hawkeyes spent the night at the Kirkwood Hotel in Cedar Rapids.

They flew out at 11:35 a.m. Thursday, landed in Minneapolis at 12:34 p.m.

Tipoff was 7 p.m.

“We weren’t losing today,” Affolter said. “We were here to win a basketball game.”

Iowa never trailed, building an early 13-2 lead, and led by as many as 13 points in the first half.

Minnesota (18-6, 6-6) drew even at 51-51 on Grace Grocholski’s bucket with 4:30 to go, but Hannah Stuelke scored five points in a 10-2 Iowa run.

“I was ready,” said Stuelke, who became the 44th Iowa player to reach the career 1,000-point mark.

“I was in foul trouble for a lot of the game, so I was rested. This was the most important part of the game.”

Affolter’s 3-pointer made it 61-53, then Taylor McCabe struck from deep to clinch it at 64-56 with 49 seconds left.

The Hawkeyes were 8 of 13 from the floor in the final quarter, 7 of 9 from the line.

Stuelke finished with 17 points. Lucy Olsen added 14, and Affolter and Kylie Feuerbach supplied 13 apiece.

Affolter snagged 14 rebounds to stake Iowa to a 44-33 advantage of the glass.

“Rebounds can change the game so much,” she said.

For the second straight game, Iowa held its opponent to single-digit scoring in the first quarter (the Hawkeyes led, 18-7).

Tori McKinney paced Minnesota with 16 points. Annika Stewart — a transfer from Nebraska and younger sister of former Hawkeye Hannah Stewart — added 14.

The Hawkeyes play at Nebraska on Monday. The Huskers (16-7, 7-5) dropped a 78-60 decision at home Thursday to Michigan.

Iowa 68, Minnesota 60

At Minneapolis

IOWA (68): Hannah Stuelke 7-11 3-7 17, Taylor McCabe 1-5 0-0 3, Sydney Affolter 4-9 2-3 13, Kylie Feuerbach 4-8 4-4 13, Lucy Olsen 5-15 3-4 14, Aaliyah Guyton 0-4 0-0 0, Addison O’Grady 2-4 2-4 6, Taylor Stremlow 1-2 0-0 2, Teagan Mallegni 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-58 14-22 68.

MINNESOTA (60): Mallory Heyer 4-8 0-0 10, Grace Grocholski 2-8 0-0 4, Sophie Hart 1-7 2-2 4, Amaya Battle 3-10 6-8 12, Tori McKinney 6-13 2-4 16, Annika Stewart 4-9 3-3 14, Alexsia Rose 0-2 0-0 0, McKenna Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Niamya Holloway 0-0 0-0 0, Kennedy Klick 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-57 13-17 60.

Iowa 18 14 11 25 — 68

Minnesota 7 14 16 23 — 60

3-point goals: Iowa 6-20 (McCabe 1-5, Affolter 3-5, Feuerbach 1-3, Olsen 1-4, Guyton 0-2, Stremlow 0-1), Minnesota 7-28 (Heyer 2-3, Grocholski 0-5, Battle 0-5, McKinney 2-6, Stewart 3-7, Rose 0-2). Team fouls: Iowa 20, Minnesota 22. Fouled out: Stuelke.

Rebounds: Iowa 44 (Affolter 14), Minnesota 33 (Heyer 10). Assists: Iowa 17 (Olsen 7), Minnesota 11 (three with 3). Steals: Iowa 3 (Affolter 2), Minnesota 6 (Battle 2). Turnovers: Iowa 14, Minnesota 11.

Attendance: 6,721.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com