It’s not always pretty.

It rarely is against Northwestern, but a win is a win.

There’s just something about the Wildcats no matter the sport. Football, baseball, basketball, they force you to work hard for the win and make you grind it out. The Iowa Women’s Basketball team took advantage of some cold shooting from Northwestern in the second half and came away with a 72-59 victory in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals.

“They do a really good job of making us work for our offense,” said Monika Czinano. “Our style of basketball is to go at a really fast pace and try to get everything in transition…It is a challenge, and their defense is unlike any other team in the Big Ten.”

The first half had many similarities to game that the Hawkeyes lost in Iowa City. Iowa got all 32 points from just three players, including four huge 3pt makes from Caitlin Clark and 12 points from Monika Czinano. The Wildcats got 16 points from Veronica Burton, while nine offensive rebounds and forcing Caitlin Clark into five turnovers.

Northwestern made four threes in the first half, despite going 2/23 vs Minnesota. Coach Lisa Bluder said that was on the defense in the first half.

“We let their shooters get open a little bit in the first half on help situations. I think we cleaned that up in the second half.”

At the half Iowa led 32-31, but they needed someone to step up in the second half to relieve the pressure from Czinano and Clark. The answer was Kate Martin. Martin scored nine points and had a pair of assists in the third quarter. Gabbie Marshall and Monika Czinano also combined for 14 points in the quarter.

However, the reason Iowa extended their lead in the third quarter and into the fourth quarter was on the defensive end. Despite allowing the Wildcats to grab 13 second half offensive rebounds, the Hawkeyes forced Northwestern into tough shots, and it led to just 8/35 (23%) shooting on their end.

“They got way too many offensive boards. We were doing a better job of that in the first half, but they got too many in the second half,” said Bluder. “I think Monika put herself in a position to help a lot in the paint on Burton coming off those ball screens…I think Gabbie did a great job of trying to keep the ball out of Veronica’s hands. She had 16 in the first half and only ended up with 9 in the second half and she took 24 shots. She had to work hard for the shots that she got.”

The cold shooting from the Wildcats in the second half was ultimately the story, while the Hawkeyes shot nearly 60% in the half. They built their lead as high as 66-49 after a Tomi Taiwo 3pt make and went on to win 72-59.

Iowa got 15 second half points from Kate Martin. She finished the game with 15 points, five rebounds and six assists. Coach Bluder, as always, was quick to point out the performance of Martin.

“Kate was outstanding today. Her season-high in assists and points, but it was more than that,” said Bluder. “Her level-headedness, her defense, she ran our offense to what we were trying to accomplish, she passed the ball well. Kate’s always been the glue (for our team) and people overlook her. She holds this team together. She’s our captain and she’s, our leader.”

Monika Czinano led the team in scoring with 21 points on 9/12 shooting, while also grabbing eight rebounds. Over her last five games, Czinano has 116 points on 50/64 (78.1%) shooting, while grabbing 30 rebounds. Caitlin Clark recorded a double-double with 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists. Her five 3pt makes were big and helped Iowa in the first half when they needed scoring.

Addison O’Grady also should be mentioned, as she had six points, four rebounds and a block in 11 minutes.

Coming into the night, Northwestern was said to be among the last teams projected in the tournament field, but Lisa Bluder and Caitlin Clark both believe the Cats should be in the field of 68, despite tonight’s loss.

“Certainly, I do, I agree with Coach Bluder. I think they do deserve an at-large bid,” said Clark. “I think Veronica Burton is one of the best players in the country, so why wouldn’t you want to put her on the best stage in women’s basketball.”

With the win, Iowa almost certainly locks up a regional host bid for the NCAA Tournament after landing at #14 in the selection committee’s final top 16 ranking of the season. That would mean potentially two more games in front of a large home crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

As for the Big Ten Tournament, Hawkeyes await the winner of Nebraska and Michigan and will face the winner in the semifinal round tomorrow. It is the third time in four seasons that Iowa has advanced to the semifinal round of the tournament. The game will be at 5:00pm and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.