Defense plagues Iowa women in loss to No. 6 Ohio State

IOWA CITY — Lisa Bluder and the Iowa women's basketball team knew what was coming in No. 6 Ohio State.

The Hawkeyes knew the Buckeyes brought with them a fast and efficient offense, and any hopes of an upset would be to at least slow them down, while keeping pace on offense. Iowa got off on the foot they wanted, but a 10-0 run to end the first quarter, then a third quarter in which OSU shot 72.2 percent were enough to blow the game open and send the Hawkeyes to a third straight loss, 98-81.

'Their press in the third quarter hurt us, too many turnovers that resulted in high-percentage scores for them. Obviously, defensively, we've got to improve,' Bluder said. 'They were able to speed us up, but I thought, 'It's OK to get sped up if we get layups and open 3s.' That's fine. We don't mind playing at that pace. But it's when we're not disciplined to say we're going to take hard shots, contested shots or shots we don't practice. I don't mind playing fast if we're taking shots we practice every day.

'We just got into (going) maybe too fast and we lost our mental focus in taking some shots we don't really work on.'

Bluder's frustration with the mental lapses was evident throughout the game, given the ease with which Ohio State was able to get baskets.

The Buckeyes (20-4, 12-1 Big Ten) shot 40 of 69 overall (58 percent) and 7 of 18 (38.9 percent) from 3-point range for the game, and were led by starting guard Kelsey Mitchell and Shayla Cooper off the bench, each with 20 points. Ohio State had five players in double figures, and had an answer seemingly every time down against Iowa's zone defense.

With 54 points in the paint and 16 off turnovers by the Buckeyes, the Hawkeye players pulled no punches in assessing what went on.

'They have at least four girls out there at a time that can all score,' said Ally Disterhoft, who led Iowa (15-10, 5-8) with 20 points and seven rebounds. 'When you have that, we can take away a couple of their players at times, but then they're a good team, they're good players and they're going to step up. They're a difficult team to defend when they have that many threats, but we definitely shouldn't have given up that many points to them. No excuse for that.'

Defense has been the common thread for the Hawkeyes throughout its three-game losing streak, Bluder said.

In losses at Indiana (79-74) and at home Sunday against No. 14 Michigan State (74-69), Iowa rebounded well, but couldn't get the stops necessary when they needed them. With five games left in the regular season, Bluder said 'there's no reason why we can't go 4-1.'

To do that, she said, the Hawkeyes will have to look within themselves and step up both as players and coaches to improve what's lacked on defense.

'Our rebounding was good the last couple games, it's just being able to stop people and get defensive stops,' Bluder said. 'We have a lead at Indiana, we don't get defensive stops. All we need to do is get a stop and we win that game, and we don't. Obviously the stops against Michigan State and Ohio State were few and far between to let teams shoot 58 percent.

'Defense, to me, is about effort. It's about intensity. It's about getting it done. It's about, 'I'm not going to let you score.' And yeah, it can be easier handled in player than in zone, but we've got to drill more. We've got to teach better.'

Up next for Iowa is a trip to Minnesota. The Hawkeyes and Gophers face off Monday at 7 p.m.

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com