Michigan pushes Hawkeyes to 0-2 in Big Ten

IOWA CITY -- No way to sugarcoat it.

This was an awful performance and a damaging loss.

The Iowa Hawkeyes floundered through a 29-percent shooting effort and suffered a 60-53 loss to Michigan in a Big Ten women's basketball game before 5,875 Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"We couldn't buy a basket," said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder. "Our defense was good. Our rebounding was good. But when you can't score points, it's hard to win the game."

No. 14 Iowa came into the week riding a wave of momentum. But after a collapse at Penn State and an all-around clunker Sunday, the Hawkeyes are 0-2 in the Big Ten, 12-3 overall.

"I didn't see this coming," Bluder said.

Next up, a trip to Minnesota on Wednesday, a home date with Ohio State in front of a national TV audience Saturday, then a voyage to Michigan State on Jan. 13. For the Hawkeyes' Big Ten title hopes, the margin for error has evaporated.

Meanwhile, Michigan (9-5, 2-0) is riding high after opening the league slate with wins against Ohio State and Iowa.

"It's two games in the conference. We have, what, 14 left?" said Michigan Coach Kevin Borseth. "You're only as good as your last game, so we're pretty good right now.

"It's a great win, we'll take it and enjoy it today."

Michigan beat the Hawkeyes in Iowa City for the second straight year and ended Iowa's home winning streak at 12.

The Wolverines snatched the momentum with a 13-1 run to close the first half that sent them to the locker room with a 26-21 advantage.

They built the margin to 10 points on a drive by Veronica Hicks with 16:20 to go, then extended it to 12 on three occasions, the last on Courtney Boylan's 3-pointer with 5:55 left that made it 54-42.

Jaime Printy's 3-pointer and Kelly Krei's three-point play gave the Hawkeyes a chance at 54-50 with 1:51 left, then Michigan closed the door.

Boylan finished with 18 points, Jenny Ryan 15, Hicks 11 for the winners.

Printy led Iowa with 18 points, but shot 6-of-25 from the floor. Morgan Johnson scored 13.

Kamille Wahlin, Printy's backcourt mate, was 1-for-11 and sat for long stretches of the second half.

"She wasn't playing well," Bluder said of Wahlin. "She wasn't contributing. She was hurting us."

Iowa made 19 of 65 shots, including 6 of 28 from long range.

Shooting was supposed to be a strength for this team, but it hasn't happened. Not consistently from long distance, anyway.

"It's hard when you're not shooting well," said Kachine Alexander, who registered nine points and 15 rebounds. "We've been down on our field goal percentage throughout the season, so those are things that we need to pick up, get in the gym more, do whatever we need to do."

Printy said, "We've just got to keep shooting. Eventually, they've got to fall."

Wednesday would be a good time to start. Iowa's Big Ten title hopes depend on it.

Big Ten standings

Conf.

All

Michigan

2-0

9-5

Indiana

2-0

8-6

Wisconsin

2-0

7-7

Michigan State

1-0

13-1

Northwestern

1-1

12-3

Penn State

1-1

12-4

Illinois

1-1

6-9

Ohio State

0-1

9-4

Iowa

0-2

12-3

Purdue

0-2

9-5

Minnesota

0-2

8-7