First half deficit dooms Iowa, Hawkeyes fall to #8 Maryland

It was almost a historic comeback, until it wasn’t.

The Iowa women’s basketball team attempted to erase a dismal start with a feverish second half comeback, but the 25-point first half hole proved to be too much to overcome. An opportunity for the Hawkeyes (12-3, 2-2) to secure a marquee win, against a marquee program fell by the wayside and the 8th-ranked Maryland Terrapins (14-0, 4-0) escaped with a 74-66 victory.

“It wasn’t so fun right in the beginning, when we were looking like we weren’t prepared. But I do like the resilience. If you can handle a loss, it can be really helpful and I’m trying to make sure we handled it right because if we handle it right, we can draw from it,” said Jan Jensen. “I’m thankful for the second half because this group, they never quit.”

A near capacity crowd at Carver-Hawkeye Arena brought plenty of energy to building, but the visiting Terrapins were not intimidated. They knocked the Hawkeyes on their heels right away, building an early 16-4 lead, with four made three-pointers. A shot they don’t normally rely on, but one that showed with frequency in the first half. Trailing by double digits, Jan Jensen made the risky decision of putting four freshmen on the floor. The risk came with a reward, as Iowa ended the opening quarter on a 9-3 run. capped by an Aaliyah Guyton drive and kick to Taylor McCabe for an open three, to climb within 22-15.

“Our veterans did have some uncharacteristic things that you can’t really have to start a game,” said Jensen on why she went to the freshmen early. “I’m feeling more and more confident with the youth, and I think they can really help us.”

In the moment, it felt like the Hawkeyes had weathered the storm and stabilized themselves. However, Maryland kept up their sharp shooting and Iowa was all out of whack on both ends of the floor. They committed seven turnovers in the quarter and allowed the Terps to go on a 24-6 run that ballooned the lead 46-21 with 60 seconds until halftime. For the second straight game, Iowa had a poor start to the game and this time, it was threatening to become a blowout loss. Coach Jensen took a lot of the blame in the postgame press conference.

“It’s probably my fault. I think I got really tight. I thought (the refs) let it go really physical, not why we lost, but I think I got a little incensed and I could have made (the team) a little bit tight, so I’m going to take that…I think we blew a couple of (lineup) combinations tonight and I can think of a few off the top of my head where we had a rhythm and then maybe we didn’t and that’s a mistake.”

“I’m not happy with our starts. We didn’t start great at Penn State, we didn’t start great today, and I’ve got to figure out why,” said Jensen. “We left a lot of unforced errors and left a lot of layups on the table, and that is just unfortunate when you’re playing a good team.”

Lucy Olsen’s 11 points was the only bright spot, as the Hawkeyes headed to the half trailing 48-27. In the locker room, Jan Jensen attempted to impress upon her team that a comeback was still possible, but the group had to come out in the second half with the belief that it was possible.

“I said hey, I think I blew it for you. Got a little tight and you’re not used to seeing me like that,” said Jensen. “I said, I’ve been a part of a 24-point comeback before, but you have to know I’m not just telling you this to just say it.”

“I said, it’s going to be harder than heck. It’s going to be really, really hard. We’ve got to get stops upon stops upon stops…I was really pleased because you can’t really do what we did if they didn’t really dig in and believe too.”

The response in second half was impressive. The Hawkeyes stepped up their play on both ends of the floor and an early 12-0 run sent a whole lot of energy coursing through the veins of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Three-pointers from Syd Affolter and Lucy Olsen gave the team a sign of life that was nonexistent in the first half.

“I thought Iowa ramped up their defensive intensity and we got a little caught off guard,” said Maryland head coach Brenda Frese. “I thought our poise and composure wasn’t great.”

Although the early third quarter run showed that the Hawkeyes had not given up, they weren’t really able to make sizable dent. Bri McDaniel finished with 13 points off the bench for the Terps and had a couple of big baskets in the third to keep Iowa from closing the gap further.

Jan Jensen’s team kept at it, slowly chipping away at the lead. Addi O’Grady started the fourth quarter with a layup, followed by a three-pointer from Lucy Olsen. The deficit was cut to 59-48. Addi O’Grady made layup, free throws, Syd Affolter layup, free throws and then the play that nearly blew the roof of Carver. Kylie Feuerbach jumped a pass from Saylor Poffenbarger and took it the other way for a layup. All of the sudden Maryland’s lead was just 63-57 with 5:09 to play.

“I thought we did fight to the end in the second half,” said Syd Affolter. “We played much better, and we outscored them in the second half too. We’ve just got to mimic that and make that a full game of basketball. We can’t only do it for 20 minutes.”

Within five, trailing 63-58, Iowa needed one more big shot to fall to ramp up the pressure on Maryland just one more notch. Another notch that may have been too much for them to handle. They got two chances to cut the deficit to a single possession, but a missed layup and turnover gave the Terps a chance to close the game out. Kaylene Smikle closed it out.

The Rutgers transfer hit two three-pointers in the span of 90 seconds to extend the lead back to 71-60 with just two minutes to play. A valiant effort from the Hawkeyes, but the reality set in that their comeback effort was going to come up a couple of possessions short. Maryland escaped with the 74-66 win.

On the night, the Hawkeyes shot 23 of 62 (37.1%) from the floor and 7 of 22 (31.8%) from three-point range. Lucy Olsen led the way with 19 points, while Syd Affolter totaled 12 points and eight rebounds. Iowa outrebounded the Terps 44-41 and held them to just 34.3% shooting from the floor. The two areas that stood out? Three-point shooting and turnovers. Maryland was 12 of 25 (48.0%) from behind the arc and forced 21 turnovers.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes travel to Champaign for a rivalry matchup against the Illinois Fighting Illini on Thursday. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on BTN+.