Buckeyes top Hawkeyes
Battered, bruised, and frustrated.
That’s the description that accompanies the Iowa Women’s basketball team as they head home from Carver after a 92-88 loss to #23 Ohio State this evening.
An incredibly physical four quarter battle between ranked teams ended with controversy, as the Hawkeyes couldn’t close the deal on what would have been their first ranked win of the season.
“Using it as fuel, to light a fire under us (going forward),” said Caitlin Clark as she discussed what can be taken away from a game like this. “I think we played really hard. I think I could have executed a little better down the stretch…Obviously, this one really hurts just because of how well we played.”
The game kicked off with a feverish scoring pace, with Ohio State jumping out to a 28-27 first quarter lead, which was led by four three point makes from Rebeka Mikulasikova.
“That’s really what kept them in the game in the first half,” said Lisa Bluder. “That’s my fault…I went with the statistics.” Mikulasikova had made just seven threes coming into the game and was shooting just 15% from behind the arc in Big Ten play.
Despite the surprising hot shooting from the junior from Slovakia, Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano combined for 33 first half points. Iowa was able to go into the halftime break with a 48-44 lead.
The Hawkeyes forced an early Buckeye timeout and built a bit of separation with a 7-2 run to open the second half, but Ohio State just started chipping away. Tanaya Beacham would put away back-to-back baskets to cut the lead down to five points, while a 3pt make from Taylor Mikesell cut the Iowa lead to 68-66 after three quarters.
Ohio State took a brief lead to open the fourth quarter, but Iowa fought back got the lead up to 83-79 with five minutes to play after a Monika Czinano basket. Down the stretch, a couple possessions ended in turnovers for the Hawkeyes, when a basket would have put them firmly in the driver’s seat.
“We had some unfortunate turnovers in the last five minutes of play and that’s tough,” said Bluder. “Monika shot 85% from the field…Caitlin shot the ball well, but we just had too many turnovers in the last five minutes.
Both teams would trade baskets with under two minutes to play and Caitlin Clark, who finished with 43 points was called on to make a play. Unfortunately, trailing by one, Caitlin Clark missed a midrange jump shot that forced Iowa into fouling. Taylor Mikesell made a pair of free throws and then the Buckeyes decided to foul with 5.4 remaining and a three-point lead.
Kate Martin made the first free throw and purposely missed the second one looking for an offensive rebound. McKenna Warnock got her hands on a rebound, but heavy contact from a couple Buckeyes knocked her to the floor without a whistle from the referees. Lisa Bluder, along with every Iowa fan in attendance pleaded for a call, but the call stood, and a couple Buckeye free throws gave them the 92-88 victory.
Lisa Bluder aired her grievances with the officiating crew in the press conference saying, “I thought we had a kicked ball that should have went back to us, but it wasn’t called. It’s incredibly frustrating right now.”
Speaking about the no call that ended the game Bluder said, “I thought completely got mugged. She should have been shooting two free throws…I think we could have made them, but we’ll never know.”
Going forward injuries have become a large concern for Bluder, as AJ Ediger was out with a high ankle sprain, she sustained in shoot around. Gabbie Marshall and Kate Martin were both banged up after getting hit with hard screens, while Marshall missed good chunk of time late in the game. McKenna Warnock was also injured on the final play.
“I don’t know if I’m going to be able to field after this game, it is that bad...The screens that we saw tonight, I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Bluder. “I am very concerned. We only have so many bodies left…It’s hard when you are losing your starters like that.”
Monika Czinano talked about flushing this loss out, with the schedule still including ranked games vs Michigan (x2), Maryland and potentially two against Indiana.
“I think we use it to light a fire. I think our team has been playing phenomenally and I think this another opportunity to crank it up another level. As challenging a game as it was, it made every single person better.” said Czinano. “I hope we see them in the Big Ten Tournament.”
Lost in the shuffle of the controversial end and this article is that Caitlin Clark posted her second 40-point performance of the season, logging 43 points, four rebounds and seven assists. Monika Czinano added 23 points and nine rebounds.
The Hawkeyes next game comes on the road in Madison, WI, as they will take on the Wisconsin Badgers, who are near the bottom of the conference this season. It should be a game that allows Bluder’s squad to regroup and get an easy win before the very challenging back end of the schedule begins. The game is on Thursday at 6:30pm and will be streamed on BTN+.