Women's Basketball: Sagging Hawkeyes host surging Gophers

IOWA CITY - It's late. But not too late.

We're talking about Thursday's women's basketball game between Iowa and Minnesota, which starts at 8 p.m.

And we're talking about the Hawkeyes' season in general.

It's late - the Big Ten leaders are too far in the distance to catch.

But it's not too late to salvage the season. Five winnable games remain before the Big Ten tournament - and (probably) the NCAA tournament.

“I just feel like we can still really achieve some good things this year in these last five games,” said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder.

“We've got five games left, and we're looking to go 5-0,” said Kachine Alexander, a Minnesotan who likely will make her final appearance against her home-state team.

Not so long ago, this one looked like a gimme. Iowa was surging. Minnesota was staggering.

Now, the Gophers (11-12, 3-7) are the team with some momentum. They've won three straight games to move out of the Big Ten basement.

“You can see how far Minnesota has come since the beginning of the year,” Bluder said.

Iowa (17-7, 5-6) was picked to push Ohio State for the Big Ten title. Expectations were high.

“Maybe that's been more stressful than I anticipated it being for (the team),” Bluder said. “Last year was no expectations, and so it was pretty free and easy.  This year we came in with high expectations, and maybe the pressure has gotten to them a little bit more than I thought it would.”

The Hawkeyes have lost two straight - 60-41 at Purdue and 82-75 to Penn State at home.

“It would do us a lot of good to get a win,” said Jaime Printy, the Hawkeyes' leading scorer.

Big Ten standings

Conf.

All

Penn State

9-2

20-5

Michigan State

8-2

20-3

Wisconsin

8-3

13-10

Michigan

7-4

14-9

Purdue

6-5

15-8

Iowa

5-6

17-7

Northwestern

5-6

16-8

Ohio State

4-6

13-9

Minnesota

3-7

11-12

Indiana

2-9

8-15

Illinois

2-9

7-17

Thursday's Games

Minnesota at Iowa (8 p.m.)

Michigan State at Penn State

Purdue at Ohio State

Indiana at Illinois

Northwestern at Wisconsin

Sunday's Games

Iowa at Northwestern (2 p.m.)

Penn State at Indiana

Illinois at Purdue

Michigan at Michigan State

Ohio State at Minnesota

Iowa's remaining schedule

Thursday – Minnesota (home)

Sunday – at Northwestern

Feb. 16 – Wisconsin (home)

Feb. 24 – Illinois (home)

Feb. 27 – at Indiana