Iowa women’s basketball can’t deliver with big crowd, national TV audience

IOWA CITY — This wasn’t the presentation the Iowa Hawkeyes wanted to make in front of a national audience.

No. 13 Maryland built a 20-point third-quarter lead, weathered some late turbulence and handled No. 22 Iowa, 81-69, in a crucial Big Ten women’s basketball game before a crowd of 9,820 Monday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“This was really, really special,” Maryland Coach Brenda Frese — a Cedar Rapids native — said afterward. “Any time you have family and friends in the stands. What’s even more special is how our team played tonight.”

In a game televised on ESPN2, the Terrapins performed like the Big Ten standard bearer that they are. Maryland (19-6 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) won its seventh straight game and looked every bit like a contender for its seventh Big Ten title in its eighth year in the league.

Maryland made life difficult for Caitlin Clark. Iowa’s All-America guard was 7-of-25 from the field in a 19-point effort and committed 10 turnovers.

“Obviously, they were physical with me,” Clark said. “It bothered me more than it should have. I didn’t feel like I had much consistency in any areas. I didn’t get many clean looks.”

Credit the Terrapins.

“Making Clark have to work on the offensive end, it took a lot of heart and pressure,” Frese said.

Added Maryland’s Angel Reese: “Our team gets really hyped playing the top teams and the top players. We like shutting them down.”

Maryland moved into a second-place tie with Michigan and Ohio State, one game behind Indiana in the loss column.

Iowa (16-7, 10-4) slipped into fifth place. Three of the Hawkeyes’ final four regular-season games are against top-four teams, including a Saturday/Monday road-and-home series with Indiana.

There’s still an opportunity to earn one of the four double-byes in the Big Ten tournament. To do it, they’re going to have to beat some Top 25 teams, and they haven’t beaten one all season.

“It’s going to be difficult,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. “Maryland and Ohio State both have the tie-breaker on us.”

Maryland was on the verge of running the Hawkeyes out of the arena, leading 57-37 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. A 10-0 Iowa run got the Hawkeyes within 61-52, then a 9-0 surge made it 66-61 with 6:45 remaining, igniting the volume from the crowd.

But Reese scored on a drive and Katie Benzan added a 3-pointer to restore order at 73-63, and Iowa never got closer than eight points again.

Reese led all scorers with 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Diamond Miller added 20 points for the winners, and Chloe Bibby scored 16.

Maryland enjoyed a 47-31 rebounding advantage.

“We gave up way too many offensive rebounds (19),” Bluder said. “That continues to be a problem.”

It all started well enough for the Hawkeyes, who led 11-4 after four minutes.

The rest of the half was strictly all Maryland.

The Terrapins took their first lead, 14-13, on Reese’s basket at the 3:30 mark of the first quarter.

After the teams went back-and-forth a bit, the Terrapins established control with an 8-0 run for a 24-17 lead.

Iowa got within 24-21 on Monika Czinano’s basket inside, but Czinano and Kate Martin fell into foul trouble, and the Terrapins feasted, outscoring the Hawkeyes 24-12 through the rest of the half for a 48-33 lead.

Czinano added 16 points before fouling out. Martin scored 10 points, Gabbie Marshall nine, Addison O’Grady eight.

McKenna Warnock (left hand) missed her fourth straight game.

“No, that wasn’t even an option,” Bluder said.

Maryland, on the other hand, was without Ashley Owusu, its second-leading scorer.

“We’ve been through so much adversity,” Frese said, “and we haven’t even flinched.

“The crowd got loud, and our kids loved that. They kept their poise, kept their composure.”

Maryland 81, Iowa 69

At Iowa City

MARYLAND (81): Angel Reese 9-15 7-11 25, Chloe Bibby 6-14 0-0 16, Shyanne Sellers 3-8 3-4 9, Diamond Miller 8-17 1-2 20, Katie Benzan 2-7 0-0 5, Mimi Collins 1-3 0-0 2, Taisiya Kozlova 1-2 1-2 4. Totals 30-66 12-19 81.

IOWA (69): Monika Czinano 7-10 2-2 16, Tomi Taiwo 3-6 1-1 7, Kate Martin 2-6 5-6 10, Caitlin Clark 7-25 2-3 19, Gabbie Marshall 3-8 2-2 9, Kylie Feuerbach 0-0 0-0 0, Addison O’Grady 4-5 0-0 8, Sydney Affolter 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 26-63 12-14 69.

Maryland 24 24 18 15 — 81

Iowa 19 14 22 14 — 69

3-point goals: Maryland 9-20 (Reese 0-1, Bibby 4-7, Sellers 0-2, Miller 3-6, Benzan 1-3, Kozlova 1-1), Iowa 5-20 (Taiwo 0-2, Martin 1-2, Clark 3-13, Marshall 1-2, Affolter 0-1). Team fouls: Maryland 17, Iowa 17. Fouled out: Benzan, Czinano. Rebounds: Maryland 47 (Reese 13), Iowa 31 (Clark, O’Grady 6). Assists: Maryland 13 (Benzan 5), Iowa 12 (Clark 6). Steals: Maryland 7 (Reese, Miller 2), Iowa 10 (Marshall 4). Turnovers: Maryland 19, Iowa 19.

Attendance: 9,820.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com