Hawkeyes turn it in the second half, pull away from BYU in Cancun

It was hardly a performance deserving of any awards, but when the heat turned up and the Hawkeyes were pressured, they came through. With Lucy Olsen out of the lineup for the second straight game due to a serious cut on her knee, Iowa found themselves in a tight, 25-19 game at half. The Hawkeyes stepped it up in the second half scoring 43 points en route to a 68-48 win over BYU. It’s the first 8-0 start for Iowa since the 2004-05 season.

“We had too many turnovers, I think their pressure caused us to go a little on our heels and there some unforced ones, but overall, weathering that, not having (Lucy) and finding a way win against a Big 12 opponent, I’m happy,” said head coach Jan Jensen. “I’m not sure how good we are yet, but I know this team went undefeated in November and that’s hard to do. Winning is hard.”

The first half was a slog, that was closer to something resembling a Virginia men’s hoops game, than an Iowa women’s hoops game. In short, it was a rock fight, with both sides struggling to put points on the board.

In the first quarter, Aaliyah Guyton capped an 11-0 run with a three-pointer, getting Iowa out to a 14-6 lead. A near three-minute scoring drought followed, but Hannah Stuelke was able to hit a baseline jumper at the horn to make it 16-10 after the first ten minutes.

Drive, Dish, & Swish! @StuelkeHannah x @aguyton11 #Hawkeyes

https://t.co/UcREUPqPRu

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 30, 2024

Things ground to a halt in the second quarter. The teams combined to shot just 6 of 24 from the floor in the quarter, with Iowa committing six more turnovers. They totaled 16 turnovers in the first half, but were able to limp to the locker room with a 25-19 advantage.

“Their pressure and their physicality really disrupted us a lot,” said assistant coach Randi Henderson. “I think we got a little better handle on it (in the second half), and they got a little bit tired. Our turnovers went down, but our execution when we didn’t turn it over was very good. We took good shots, we made good shots, and we found our posts.”

As poor as the first half was, the Hawkeyes came out of the locker room for the second half and turned the tides on the game quickly. A basket from Addi O’Grady, followed by a three-pointer from Kylie Feuerbach forced BYU head coach Amber Whiting to take a timeout just 90 seconds into the third quarter. The lead had ballooned to double digits for the first time, at 30-19.

Playing in just the third game over her young Iowa career, Aaliyah Guyton turned it over a few times, but was big on the offensive end of the floor. She knocked down a three-pointer and a pull up jumper in the span of 19 seconds midway through the quarter to expand the lead to 42-25. She finished with 11 points, including three made three-pointers.

“I’m really thankful that she got cleared and was here to play with us, especially not having Lucy,” said Henderson. “It’s been super fun to watch her come along and she’s going to be a really good player.”

In the fourth, a pair of threes from BYU guard Kemery Congdon cut the Iowa lead to 49-36, but an 8-0 Iowa run fueled by two Taylor McCabe three balls extended the lead to 57-36 with 4:53 to play. It was an insurmountable lead for a Cougars team that shot just 30.2% on the night. The Hawkeyes have now held their opponent to less than 60 points in five games this season.

“You think about some of their top scorers, (Delaney) Gibb had a really hard day. She was just one of nine from the floor, six total points. Kylie just did an outstanding job of making it really tough on her,” said Henderson. “We did a good job on #25 (Emma Calvert) and took her out of her rhythm…I thought our defensive effort, our ability to scout and make it really tough for them in the half court helped us through our turnover woes.”

The biggest positive from the 68-48 win? There was life from behind the arc. The Hawkeyes shot 11/23 (47.8%) from three-point range, with four players hitting at least two, while Aaliyah Guyton led the way with three made threes. Iowa entered the tournament ranked 222nd in three-point shooting percentage.

“When we came down here, before we left, I said, we just need to go down to Mexico, Cancun and heat up a bit, so we just tried to be a little looser with it,” said Jan Jensen. “That second half, when they loosened up, that’s what we’ve seen a lot in practice. I just want these guys to get confidence and know that they’ve seen it go down against a nice opponent now. I’m happy for them.”

Hannah Stuelke finished with a game-high 16 points and eight rebounds, while Addi O’Grady added 12 points, four rebounds and three blocks. Syd Affolter was a standout performer, totaling seven points, ten rebounds, four assists and five steals.

For the night, Iowa shot 24 of 51 (47.1%) from the floor and 11 of 23 (47.8%) from three-point range. They outrebounded BYU 37-28, pulling down 78.4% of defensive rebounds and 28.6% of offensive rebounds. Despite turning it over 23 times, the Hawkeyes were able to force BYU into 20 turnovers, and led the points off turnovers battle 20-17.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes will head out east for the inaugural Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn against the Tennessee Volunteers on December 7th. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on FOX.