By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Lisa Bluder said it ruefully, but she was right: “I think the fans saw a very exciting, fun game tonight. I think they got their dollar’s worth, so hopefully they'll come back.”

Iowa and Florida State went elbow for elbow and shot for shot for 40 minutes before the 13^th-ranked Seminoles came away with a 94-93 victory Wednesday night on Buck Night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. If we all invested our money as wisely we’d be among the one percenters.

Iowa lost for the first time in eight games. FSU improved to 7-0.

It was a game of streaks and corresponding adjustments by each team. The teams’ best players were at their best, and it provided entertainment up to the final second.

“It was a great basketball game for fans to watch,” FSU coach Sue Semrau said. “For coaches it was a nightmare. To give up the kind of points that both teams gave up, I think Lisa and I will both do a lot of work on the defensive side of the ball.”

Iowa junior center Megan Gustafson gave a performance worthy of an All-American both offensively and defensively, scoring 34 points on 15-of-18 shooting with nine rebounds in 37 minutes.

“We didn’t have an answer for Megan,” Semrau said. “She’s a tremendous player. Lisa does a tremendous job of finding ways to get her involved.

“She’s just efficient. She seals so well. She doesn’t try to do anything fancy. You dream you have a post player like that.”

FSU All-American forward Shakayla Thomas (31 points, 10 rebounds) and senior guard Imani Wright (career-high 26 points) put on gutsy, clutch performances when their team needed them most.

Iowa started the game with an offensive clinic. Tania Davis missed the first shot, but Iowa made the next 14 to close the first quarter.

“We did a really good job of being confident in ourselves,” Gustafson said of Iowa’s fast start. “I had some really great passes from our guards.”

“We came into this game confident in our offense,” Chase Coley said. “We were going to wait to get good looks. We really clicked on offense.”

“We shot the ball well from every category,” Bluder said. “But when you give up 24 more shots to the opposing team and you lose by one point, it's hard because it's offensive rebounds. We let up too many offensive rebounds and had too many turnovers (21), and a lot of live-ball turnovers that ended up being high-percentage shots for them at the other end.”

As good as the Hawks were, they led only by six after one quarter. Iowa came back to earth and FSU heated up in the second quarter and took the lead until Iowa finished the half on an 8-0 run to lead 48-44 at intermission.

Iowa led by eight in the third quarter, but FSU rallied to tie at 63. Iowa, behind 10 points from Gustafson, put together a 12-0 run to take a 75-63 lead. Iowa still led by 10 with about 6 minutes to go, but Thomas went to work inside, scoring the next 11 points to wipe out Iowa’s lead.

“It was just me reading,” Thomas said. “Sometimes I do a great job of reading the defense. I feel like I read it and my teammates also read it, so they knew ‘Kay’s going to go to work. Kay’s going to do what she has to do.’ They trust me enough to know I’m going to get the job done.”

“She’s strong and she’s able to finish right around the rim just about anywhere,” Gustafson said.

“Defensively we just didn’t have an answer for Thomas,” Bluder said. “She’s a great player, probably play in the WNBA next year, and we just really struggled defending her down the stretch.”

During the Thomas run Iowa committed four turnovers and missed two shots.

A Makenzie Meyer three gave Iowa an 82-80 lead with three minutes left, but A.J. Alix answered with a three. Gustafson hit two free throws with 48.9 seconds left to tie the game at 86. But then Wright swished a long 3-pointer with 36 seconds left.

“That was a pretty big dagger,” Bluder said.

Bluder said she went to a zone to try to give help on Thomas inside and that left Wright open, albeit from University Heights. Wright made 7-of-17 in the game. Semrau was OK with Wright’s shot.

“She has the confidence to hit that shot,” Semrau said. “She was the one right away that had the courage to step up and take that shot. Taking that shot, for me as a coach, was as good as Shakayla getting it on the block.”

 FSU, which reached the Elite Eight a year ago, had 19 offensive rebounds, while Iowa had five. FSU had 83 shots to Iowa’s 59.

“This is our bread and butter,” Thomas said of her team’s rebounding prowess.

The 21 turnovers were costly. Bluder said many were a matter of failing to read the defense, particularly on post feeds late in the game.

Coley, the team’s only senior, said this was a game that can help Iowa.

“After the game I told the girls in the locker room, ‘This is a fun game. These are the games you want to play,’” Coley said. “We didn’t get the outcome we wanted, but these are the games we want to play because they make you better and show what you need to work on. We worked really hard tonight, and I’d rather play games like that than cupcakes.”