3 Takeaways from Iowa women’s basketball: 1st half to forget and 2nd half to build off

IOWA CITY The No.

23 Iowa womens basketball team lost to No.

8 Maryland 74-66 in a battle of Big Ten heavyweights in Iowa City on Sunday.

The Hawkeyes (12-3, 2-2 Big Ten) turned the ball over 13 times, shot just 10-of-26 (38.5%) and allowed 11 offensive rebounds as the Terrapins (13-0, 4-0 Big Ten) raced out to a 21-point lead in the first half.

Iowa head coach Jan Jensen grimaces while watching a replay of a hard foul during a game against Drake in Des Moines at the Knapp Center on Sunday, Nov.

17.

Iowa head coach Jan Jensen took the blame for the loss as the team fell behind by 25 points in the final minute of the second quarter.

I think it was probably my fault, Jensen said.

I got really tight.

I thought they let it go, really physical.

(That is) not why we lost, but I got a little incensed.

...

I could have made them a little tight.

I am going to take that.

The Hawkeyes scored on their first possession of the game before Maryland managed a 13-0 run behind three-pointers from Saylor Poffenbarger, Shyanne Sellers and Kaylene Smikle.

A 7-0 run over the final two minutes of the first quarter allowed Iowa to trim the lead to 22-15 heading into the second quarter.

The Hawkeyes offense once again ground to a halt in the second quarter while the Terrapins remained red-hot from the perimeter.

Iowa went over seven minutes between field goals in the frame as Maryland went on an 18-1 scoring surge to take a 48-27 advantage into halftime.

The Terps went 9-of-17 from deep in the opening 20 minutes including a 3-of-4 performance from Sellers.

A 12-0 run from Iowa in the third quarter helped trim Marylands lead to 59-43 heading into the final quarter of play.

The Hawkeyes outscored Maryland 15-4 over the first five minutes of the fourth quarter to pull within five, but an 8-2 spurt from the Terps helped seal the win as Iowa could not complete the comeback.

Lucy Olsen led Iowa with 19 points before fouling out with 14 seconds left.

Sydney Affolter added 12 points and eight rebounds.

Smikle led Maryland with 26 a game-high 26 points.

Sellers added 17 and Bri McDaniel managed 13.

Iowa returns to action on the road against Illinois (11-4, 1-3 Big Ten) on Thursday at 6 p.m.

with broadcast coverage provided by Big Ten+ (subscription required.) Nothing seemed to go Iowas way in the first half and Maryland took advantage for the critical road victory.

In the opening frame, Maryland went 9-of-17 from three-point range while the Hawkeyes went 10-of-26 from the floor.

The Terps also turned Iowas bakers dozen turnovers into 18 points and won the battle on the glass 24-18, including 11 offensive rebounds.

With 58 seconds remaining in the frame, Maryland took its largest lead of the day, a 25-point, 46-21 advantage, as Sellers converted on a pair of free throws.

After the loss, Affolter derided the Hawkeyes sloppy start.

We definitely need to have some talks about how we started the past two games, Affolter said.

We cannot have starts like that in the Big Ten.

The Big Ten is so good.

Defense is definitely a key for us this year.

It leads into our transition offense, which is our best offense.

It is better to learn from a win, but we will watch the film, learn from it and move on.

It is such a long season and the Big Ten is so good so we just have to get better and learn from our losses.

Jensen also harshly assessed the first half and indicated a significant number of errors snowballed into the 21-point hole the team found itself in.

We left a lot of unforced errors and left a lot of layups on the table, Jensen said.

That is just unfortunate.

When you are playing a good team, we missed layups.

We had some mental miscues.

I was trying to do some first time, maybe not real smart, I was trying to mix up some defenses.

Maybe we were not ready for that.

I think that led up to some transition buckets.

This group, they do not really see themselves as two times to the National Championship game because six are new, but we are getting everybodys shot.

For as poor as the first half went, Jensen said she shared a message of encouragement to her team during halftime.

And her team bought in.

I just said, Hey, I think I blew it for you.

I got a little bit tight, Jensen said.

But, I said, I have been part of a 24-point comeback before.

I said, I am really feeling like you can cut this thing, but you have to know I am not just telling you this to save it.

I felt those eyes.

I really did.

I said it was going to be harder than heck.

I was really pleased because you cannot really do what we do even if Maryland was on their heels if they did not really dig in and believe it, too.

In the second half, Iowa cut back on its turnover issues and shutdown Marylands offense to twice trim the lead down to five first with 4:42 to play and again with 45 seconds remaining.

However, the offensive woes continued as the Hawkeyes closed 6-of-18 from the field in the fourth quarter.

Though the comeback fell short, Jensen said she feels the second-half rally can pay dividends in the future.

I do like that resilience, Jensen said.

If you handle a loss right, it can really be helpful.

I am just trying to make sure we handle it right, me included.

If we handle it right, we can draw on it, we can draw on the second half when we get into another dog fight later on.

But, what I really want to do is make sure that we do not dig a hole like that, especially at home.

That is the thing that is perplexing.

In Iowas three losses this season, the team committed 73 turnovers (24.3 per game) combined.

In its 12 wins, the program turned the ball over 180 times for an average of 15 per victory.

Following the loss, Jensen described herself as absolutely concerned about the turnover issue.

I need to do a little better job of trying to put them under and little bit more duress in practice, Jensen said.

It is a big concern.

...

We need to do better entering to the post.

That is a concern.

We have been really good at that and were not that good at it right now.

I have to figure that out.

According to Olsen, the Hawkeyes struggles come down to mental acuity.

We have to make some better passes and better decisions, Olsen said.

See where the defense is playing them.

We work on it a lot, but I think a lot of it is mental.

We just have to be confident in our passes to the post and we know that when they get the ball they are going to do something great with it.

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