Indiana leads from start to finish, sends Iowa to its third straight loss, 74-67

IOWA CITY — After her first 3-pointer, Yarden Garzon whirled and glared at the Iowa bench.

“I remembered (losing here) last year, and didn’t want that to happen again,” she said.

After the last of her five triples, Garzon blew a kiss to the Carver-Hawkeye Arena crowd.

“I was just having fun,” she said. “I did that without thinking.”

Garzon was 5-for-5 from long range, and Indiana extended 23rd-ranked Iowa’s midseason slide, 74-67, in a Big Ten women’s basketball game before a paid crowd of 14,998 Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Flush this? Forget that.

“We’re going to let this one hit us a little bit,” Iowa’s Taylor McCabe said. “We’ve got to find a way to bounce back, and it’s going to start tomorrow with energy.

“We have to find a missing piece, get gritty, put our heart and soul into it.”

Iowa (12-5 overall, 2-4 Big Ten) is in the midst of its first three-game losing streak since January 2018, and surely will fall out of the Associated Press top-25 when the poll comes out Monday.

Next up is Nebraska, here, at 6 p.m. Thursday.

“We can wait for a break, or we can create our own break,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said.

Iowa’s presumptive preseason “big three” — veterans Sydney Affolter and Hannah Stuelke, and transfer Lucy Olsen — were a combined 5 of 21 from the field and totaled 17 points.

Jensen was asked where the Hawkeyes’ leadership, its “North Star” is coming from.

“That’s probably the biggest challenge,” she said. “I love our youth. Our younger kids are bringing it, and our older kids are pressing.

“You probably look at it like we’re farther away. I look at it as though we are more close than far away.”

  Buy Photo

Indiana (12-4, 4-1) led the whole way, holding the Hawkeyes to 33.9 percent (21 of 62) from the floor.

“This is such a difficult place to win,” Indiana Coach Teri Moren said. “It feels really good to be on the other side of it.”

Garzon led the Hoosiers with 21 points. Chloe Moore-McNeil added 18, Sydney Parrish 15.

In other words, IU’s veterans did what veterans should.

McCabe paced Iowa with 15 points, hitting 4 of 5 shots from long range. Addison O’Grady added 11 points.

Freshman Taylor Stremlow was a spark off the bench (again) with seven points, nine rebounds, four steals and five assists.

“The team knows what they can expect from me,” she said. “I’m going to give it my all. I’m going to give energy and do what I can.”

Three freshmen — Stremlow, Ava Heiden and Teagan Mallegni — were on the floor during Iowa’s stretch run, along with McCabe and Stuelke.

Indiana led 64-49 when Garzon’s hit her last 3-pointer (and blew her kiss) with 8:19 to go.

McCabe’s 3-pointer, off a steal from Stremlow’s deflection, got the Hawkeyes within 66-62 at the 1:56 mark, but the Hoosiers stabilized and held on.

Affolter was called for a technical foul in the first quarter. After converting a layup, she slapped the ball out of Garzon’s hands as Garzon was preparing to inbound.

Jensen voiced her displeasure, as did thousands in the stands.

“(In hindsight,) I was wrong,” Jensen said.

Indiana led 34-19 midway through the second quarter, but Iowa was within 36-30 by halftime and down just 38-36 early in the third quarter.

The Hawkeyes neither drew even nor gained the lead, though, and stand in 13th place in the Big Ten standings with one-third of the league slate complete.

“It’s something we struggle with,” Stremlow said. “We’re good at fighting back, then let it go a little.”

Indiana 74, Iowa 67

At Iowa City

INDIANA (74): Lilly Meister 2-3 0-0 4, Shay Ciezki 2-10 2-2 6, Yarden Garzon 7-8 2-2 21, Chloe Moore-McNeil 6-12 4-4 18, Sydney Parrish 5-13 2-2 15, Lexus Bargesser 1-3 0-0 2, Karoline Striplin 3-3 2-2 8, Julianna LaMendola 0-1 0-0 0, Henna Sandvik 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 12-12 74.

IOWA (67): Hannah Stuelke 1-6 3-6 5, Addison O'Grady 5-7 1-2 11, Sydney Affolter 1-3 2-2 4, Kylie Feuerbach 0-1 0-0 0, Lucy Olsen 3-12 2-2 8, Taylor Stremlow 2-5 2-2 7, Taylor McCabe 4-7 3-3 15, Ava Heiden 2-7 4-4 8, Aaliyah Guyton 3-9 2-2 9, Teagan Mallegni 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 21-62 19-23 67.

Indiana 18 18 23 15 — 74

Iowa 13 17 19 18 — 67

3-point goals: Indiana 10-24 (Ciezki 0-3, Garzon 5-5, Moore-McNeil 2-5, Parrish 3-8, Bargesser 0-2, LaMendola 0-1), Iowa 6-19 (Affolter 0-1, Feuerbach 0-1, Olsen 0-3, Stremlow 1-2, McCabe 4-5, Guyton 1-3, Mallegni 0-4). Team fouls: Indiana 23, Iowa 14. Fouled out: none. Technical foul: Affolter. Rebounds: Indiana 30 (Striplin 6), Iowa 39 (Stremlow 9). Assists: Indiana 18 (Striplin 6), Iowa 15 (Affolter, Olsen, Stremlow 4). Steals: Indiana 9 (Meister, Garzon 2), Iowa 8 (Stremlow 5). Turnovers: Indiana 17, Iowa 14.

Attendance: 14,998.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com