Maryland is one of those teams that just has Iowa’s number.

The Terps made it 10 of 13 against the Hawkeyes since they joined the conference, as they walked into a loud Carver-Hawkeye Arena and left with an 81-69 victory.

“Maryland played a really good game on both sides of the court. We gave up way too many offensive rebounds and that continues to be a problem for us,” said Coach Lisa Bluder.

The Terrapins used 19 offensive rebounds and 19 forced turnovers to score nearly half of their points. Angel Reese was brilliant on both sides, as she scored 25 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead the team.

As a team, Maryland played very well defensively and Caitlin Clark was affected the most, as she turned it over ten times and shot just 7 of 25 for the game.

“Their defense is just different because they front the post and they switch every screen, which nobody else in the Big Ten does,” said Bluder.

“They were pretty glued to me and that’s how it’s going to be from here on out and that’s how it has been,” said Caitlin Clark. “I think I could have handled it better (their defense)…Pretty physical with me and I think that bothered me more than it should have.”

The Terrapins used a big second quarter and early run 9-4 run in the third quarter to build their lead up to 57-37, but per usual Lisa Bluder’s squad fought back. A 13-5 run by Iowa was capped off by a banked in buzzer beater from the logo by Caitlin Clark and the Hawkeyes were able to get the lead down to a manageable 66-55 going into the final quarter.

“I think our zone defense was effective. Obviously, it slowed them down a lot,” said Bluder. “Gabbie Marshall had four steals and Tomi had a steal during that time. I thought they really battled out there.”

The Hawkeyes held the Terps scoreless for the first four minutes of the fourth quarter and got some huge plays out of freshman Addison O’Grady to cut the lead as low as 66-61. O’Grady finished the game with eight points and six rebounds in just 13 minutes.

“She’s been getting better and better, and I like the energy she’s bringing in now,” said Bluder on her freshman’s progression this season. “It’s nice to have two posts that you can really count, so her improvement has been really timely and really going to be beneficial down the line.”

Despite getting the lead down to five, just like at Michigan, the deficit was too much to overcome, and a Maryland 10-2 run effectively ended any hopes of an Iowa comeback.

The loss is costly in the Big Ten standings, as the Hawkeyes fall to fourth place. With three ranked match-ups remaining, Iowa could still potentially lose out on a double bye in the Big Ten Tournament. Looking at the bigger picture, unless Iowa is able to put together a big run down the stretch, their chances of hosting a regional are in grave danger.

The Hawkeyes will face Indiana in Bloomington on Saturday, before coming back to Carver on Monday to face the Hoosiers again. The game at Indiana is at 3:00pm and streamed on BTN+, while the game on Monday is at 7:00pm and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.