For the first time this season, the Iowa Women’s Basketball team dropped a second consecutive game, this time on the road against the No. 2 UCLA Bruins, 88-65. The loss puts Iowa at 18-4 overall and 9-2
record in Big Ten play.
Iowa got absolutely worked by Lauren Betts and UCLA in the paint, and it made all the difference in this game. The senior center finished the day with 16 points as the Bruins outscoring Iowa underneath the basket by a 56-26 margin. Fellow Bruins senior Angela Dugalic lead all scorers, coming off the bench to tally a career high 22 points.
Iowa was led by Heiden in scoring, who finished the day with 19 points, all of which she logged in the second half. Hannah Stuelke added 13 points and 8 rebounds, Chit-Chat Wright had 10, and Taylor Stremlow added 12 off the bench. Iowa struggled from deep despite getting solid looks, finishing the day 5-21 from beyond the arc in addition to their struggles in the post.
No one wearing black and gold shot well in the second half besides Heiden, and it showed. Freshman Addie Deal, in her second start after Taylor McCabe’s ACL injury, struggled shooting again, but did at least manage to get clean looks that just didn’t go in. Still, the Hawkeyes finished the day shooting 23-53 from the field, good for 43% percentage compared to UCLA’s 58%.
Iowa looked much improved initially after the USC game, forcing the Bruin bigs into uncomfortable long range shots on defense while they passed with way better intention on the offensive side of the floor. They were able to use it to jump out to an early 5-2 lead, but it didn’t stay that way for long as the Bruins’ size gave way to some early easy baskets in the post.
UCLA quickly had a 13-7 lead after a few Iowa turnovers lead to easy points for the Bruins on the other end of the court. 14 of the first 17 points for UCLA came in the paint, as the Hawkeye bigs struggled to adjust to the size as well as stay out of foul trouble. Points off turnovers was once again a consequential stat for Iowa, as the Bruins were able to lead them 7-2 in the category after the first quarter.
Death from a thousand UCLA cuts took away any major chance for Iowa to win this game after a close first quarter.
The second quarter got off to a slow start for both teams, but after a scoreless early minute, the Bruins started heating up while the Hawkeyes were getting decent, but difficult, looks that didn’t want to sink through the basket. Suddenly, a manageable 4-point deficit had turned into a 9-point deficit as the Bruins jumped out to a 23-14 lead with 7 minuets left to play in the half, forcing Jensen to burn an early timeout before the lead could grow further.
Out of the timeout, the Hawkeyes started to roll a bit thanks to Stuelke in the post, including getting Betts called for her second foul with 6 minutes left in the half…but then Stuelke was called for her second about 30 seconds later, which was also upgraded to a flagrant 1 that killed Iowa’s small run, as the Bruin’s made both free throws and another basket to jump out to the first double-digit lead of the day at 29-18.
Wright managed to stop the bleeding with a 3-pointer, but Heiden was the next post player to be called for her second foul, and Iowa turned the ball over on the next possession. The foul trouble forced Jensen to go with a small, extremely young lineup that featured Wright, Stremlow, Mallegni, Houston, and Hays. Houston once again had some standout moments with the extended playing time, including making her first shot from beyond the arc for the season. Despite their youth and inexperience playing as a unit, the young squad did manage to cut the UCLA lead down to 8, but a missed travel call allowed UCLA to get off a last second 3 pointer that took the Bruins into halftime up 39-28.
After going scoreless in the first half, Heiden woke up early in the second, scoring 6 quick points, but the Hawkeyes couldn’t turn the improved offensive production into defensive stops — UCLA matched every Iowa make, keeping the Hawkeye stuck with the double-digit deficit. Heiden was called for her third foul on an illegal screen, which halted any possible Iowa progress as she had been the team’s primary scorer in the third, and UCLA’s lead just grew from there as they ripped off a 7-0 run in response to go up 56-38 with 4 minutes left in the third. It would prove to be enough to keep Iowa from a realistic chance to force a comeback, even as Betts was called for her fourth foul with just over a minute left in the third quarter.
While not unexpected, it’s another frustrating loss for this Iowa team, as they continued to struggle in a post-Taylor McCabe world. Take it with a grain of salt as it came against UCLA, but still, the offense at times looked lost at best when easy post entry passes were taken away. Three starters, Heiden, Deal, and Feuerbach, went into half without having scored any points.
This is a team that will need to take advantage of the break before its next game later this week to reset and continue readjusting its offense without McCabe. Suddenly a team that possibly had too much depth is getting nowhere near enough bench production, which makes Emely Rodriguez’s continued absence frustrating as well.
The competition does get a bit easier from here, as Iowa did still perform admirably in the toughest stretch of the season. But the last thing this team needs is to creep toward March playing bad basketball.
The season isn’t over yet, but there are certainly changes to make if the team wants to right the ship and make any kind of tournament run.
