For three quarters it looked like the Hawkeyes were going to pick up a victory over IUPUI and go into the holiday break on a high note, but things took a turn south. The Jaguars would outscore the Hawkeyes 27-11 in the final quarter to pull off the stunning 74-73 win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“Got really outplayed (in the fourth). IUPUI led in this contest for three seconds, but they were the most important three seconds…Obviously, we’ve got some work to do, and we’ve got to figure it out,” said Lisa Bluder.

For three quarters the Hawkeyes did plenty of things well. They limited the Jaguars to six offensive rebounds and forced 14 turnovers. The points from turnovers and second chance points leaned heavily in favor of Iowa at 32-8 after 30 minutes. Iowa led the game 62-47 heading into the final ten minutes.

IUPUI center Macee Williams, who was held quiet in the first half, exploded for 15 second half points and the rally started with her bucket and the foul early in the fourth quarter. Rachel McLimore would cut the Iowa lead down to 65-58 with back-to-back 3pt makes off of turnover.

Then with Iowa up 69-60, Rachel Kent joined the action with a 3pt make of her own to cut it to a two-possession game with 5:24 remaining. It felt like Iowa was just trying to hang on at that point, instead of trying to go win the game.

“We weren’t playing to win. We had a 15-point lead and it almost seemed like we were trying not to lose in a sense,” said Caitlin Clark on the way the game ended. “Film never lies and that’s going to show us a lot of areas to improve. I think we got really stagnant on offense and quite a few turnovers there in the fourth quarter.”

The Jags chipped the lead down to one, but Monika Czinano converted in the paint to give Iowa the 73-70 advantage. Czinano had a stellar performance, going for 23 points on 11/18 shooting, but Macee Williams was hot and matched her shot on the other end to make it 73-72 with just over a minute left.

“She is a nice post player. We tried to double her early…We knew we needed some post help and then with as good of three-point shooters as they are, it’s hard to give that post help,” said Bluder on what changed in the final quarter in regard to guarding Macee Williams.

The ensuing possession, Iowa ran the shot clock down and looked to run a play, but a Kate Martin pass found an unsuspecting Gabbie Marshall and it went out of play for their tenth turnover of the half. On the other end, Rachel McLimore drew a foul on a drive and converted both free throws to give the Jaguars their first lead of the contest with 3.1 remaining. McLimore poured on 12 fourth quarter points to help lead the comeback.

Iowa called timeout to draw up one final shot and they got a good look from Czinano at the buzzer, but it came up short, causing the IUPUI bench to spill onto the floor to celebrate the upset victory.

While the Hawkeyes have plenty of three point options on their team, the shots just were not falling from outside today, as they were 4/22 (18.2%) for the game. Despite their three point woes, they shot very well (60.9%) inside the arc.

“I probably should have called more plays for Monika in the second half…That’s a coaching mistake on my part. When you have a 15 point lead you think, lets just let it flow. Let our offense run and the players will look to get the ball inside, but it wasn’t really happening,” said Lisa Bluder as she reflected on what she could have done. “That’s my fault for not enforcing that more. We shot the ball well from 2pt range…At some point you’ve got to realize ‘ok maybe it’s not my day for three pointers.’”

As a team they are shooting just 30% from behind the arc for the season.

“We’re not shooting the three well and I can’t explain it. I watch film and I see maybe we had 3-4 bad ones, but for the most part they’re pretty good,” said Bluder on the team’s struggles. “They’re threes that we make in practice. It’s frustrating…We are a good three-point shooting team, we just aren’t showing it this year…I have to believe that we are going to get back there.”

Now the team will take a couple days off for Christmas, but Lisa Bluder feels that may not be the best thing for a team right after a loss like this, but said it’s all about how they respond when they come back to practice on the 26th.

“It’s tough, especially when they are all leaving to go home. They are all going their separate ways. I would rather be together after a situation like this,” said Bluder. “Now we’re going to go have this break…I’m hoping that we’ll come back ready to go and ready to start fresh.”

The Hawkeyes will look to regroup going into Big Ten play after the Christmas break with a trip to State College to face Penn State. Iowa is already 1-0 in Big Ten play this season. The game is on December 30th and will be at 2:00pm on Big Ten Network.