Annnnnd…EXHALE
After blowing a 17 point lead in the final two minutes of regulation, sophomore Chit-Chat Wright took control of overtime and to keep her No. 10 Iowa Hawkeyes (17-2, 8-0 B1G) squad undefeated
in conference play on the road in a gutsy, stress-inducing 85-78 overtime thriller against the No 15. Maryland Terrapins (17-4, 5-4 B1G) in College Park.
For the second game in a row, the Hawkeyes saw a comfortable lead slip away late, and it almost cost them. The Terrapins, who had only made two 3-pointers heading into the 4th quarter, got hot from deep and forced key turnovers late that made all the difference as Iowa’s offense had suddenly gone cold.
The situation looked dire heading into overtime, with Maryland holding all of the momentum. Instead, Wright, with ice in her veins, sealed the deal with crucial free throws and assists in overtime that ultimately earned Iowa the win. Wright finished the night with 18 points and 5 assists, going 7-8 from the charity stripe. Ava Heiden lead all scorers, tallying her 6th 20+ point game of the season, finishing the night with 20 points and 8 rebounds, despite spending the final two minutes of the third quarter and nearly half of the fourth quarter on the bench with 4 fouls. Hannah Stuelke and Taylor McCabe added 12 points apiece, and freshman Journey Houston played tremendously off the bench, scoring 10 huge points in expanded playtime while Heiden was on the bench.
We should’ve known something was going to happen with this game after the first half was blazing fast, clocking in at 40 total minutes. The Hawkeyes got on the board first with McCabe’s first of four 3-pointers on the day, and it looked like they could might jump out to a nice early lead, but the Terrapins continued to leave Stuelke and Heiden open at the top of the key and the bigs took the bait. Suddenly, Maryland had its first lead at 9-8, and things turned back-and-forth from there, with Iowa ending the quarter up 16-12.
Wright was also instrumental in helping Iowa beat Maryland’s press for most of the game, and it made a difference in Iowa’s ability to run in transition. McCabe and Wright hit consecutive 3’s and suddenly the Hawkeyes lead had jumped out to 27-18 thanks to Iowa’s stifling defense and effort on the glass, which resulted in 10 Maryland turnovers in the first half. But the offense couldn’t expand the lead enough as a 5-0 Maryland run played a big role in the Terrapins ending the half only down by six, despite the poor shooting.
Iowa started the second half the same way it started the first: hitting a shot from deep, this time from Wright. After a missed shot from Maryland, a Stele layup on the next possession to give the Hawkeyes their biggest possession of the game with not even two minutes elapsed in the quarter.
But the Terrapins again would not go away, and quickly cut Iowa’s lead to four, forcing Jensen to call a quick timeout. Iowa responded as they had all night by going to — who else? — Heiden and Stuelke in the post, who kept Iowa’s lead hovering around 6 as the third quarter ticked away.
While the Hawkeyes struggled to definitively widen the lead, they did manage to force two Terrapin players into their third foul while the team was also in the midst of a multiple minute scoring drought as the game was stuck at 44-37 Iowa.
However, foul trouble found the Hawkeyes as well, as Heiden had to go to the bench with 4 fouls with 1:52 left in the quarter as Maryland cut the lead to five. Jensen went small as a result, going to the familiar setup of Stele at 5 with Houston at the 4. Houston took advantage, scoring 4 quick, gritty points points beneath the basket to help Iowa end the quarter on an 8-2 run.
She picked things up in the 4th quarter right where she left off and proved to be the X-Fator the Hawkeyes needed to seal the deal. The freshman was fouled on a layup, and while she missed the free throw, Stuelke battled for the rebound and found Houston again for a baseline jumper that swished through the net. After another Maryland miss, Houston struck again with another layup, giving Iowa a 54-42 advantage, its largest of the night.
Next it was Stremlow’s turn to get the hot hand, as she scored 5 quick points before McCabe hit her fourth shot from deep on the night to continue to build the lead up to as many as 17.
Maryland, however, wasn’t done.
The Terrapins, after only making 2 shots from deep, got hot beyond the arc in the final minutes of play and cut Iowa’s lead to 6 with 58 seconds to play. Two makes at the free throw line from Feuerbach got the lead back to 8, but Iowa’s end of game performance went from bad to worse from there.
Up 5 and out of timeouts, a turnover on an out of bounds play turned into an easy Maryland layup, cutting the lead to 4 before the Terps press resulted in steal and foul off the out of bounds play that made it a 1 point game with 22 seconds to play.
Stuelke found Feuerbach on the inbound, who was promptly fouled and hit both free throws, but the suddenly red hot Terrapins hit a way too wide open 3 on the other end of the floor to tie things up, and the game headed to overtime.
Maryland opened up overtime finding the basket to regain the lead, but Wright responded with a beautiful jumper from the top of the key to tie things back up. Maryland’s foul trouble caught up to them as Okanawa fouled out and sent Wright to the line, who hit both. On Iowa’s next possession, she found a cutting Stuelke who laid it in to give Iowa back a 3-point lead and Iowa finally got breathing room back thanks to Wright, who was 6/6 from the free throw line in overtime.
There is tremendous talent on this team, and starting 8-0 in conference play is way better than I expected. But there are definitely still things Jensen needs to figure out, particularly late in the game with leads. But, a win is a win, and I do think that games like this — and especially winning games like this — will make a huge difference for this team down the line.
GO HAWKS!
