By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – A successful basketball coach used to say, ‘They call it basketball for a reason. You have to put the ball in the basket.’

That coach is Iowa State’s Bill Fennelly, and that is the succinct version of what happened to his team Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The 10^th-ranked Cyclones couldn’t find the basket, while Iowa managed to do so in the second half and won 70-57 before a raucous crowd of 13,802.

“I thought both teams played really, really hard,” Fennelly said. “Obviously for us, our inability to shoot the ball continues to haunt us. There’s no shame in losing to a team like that. They outplayed us; they deserve it.”

No. 16 Iowa improved to 7-3 and now has a victory over a top-10 team to take into Big Ten play.

“These games mean a little more,” Iowa’s Caitlin Clark said of the in-state Division I round robin. “We always talk about being state champs.”

The first half will not be shown to youth basketball players as something to emulate. Iowa State was 4-of-18 shooting in the first quarter but managed to be tied at 11 with the Hawkeyes, who were 5-of-18.

ISU (6-2) recovered enough to take a 28-23 lead at halftime. Both coaches thought they were in good position.

“I thought our defense was really good in the first half of this game,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We held Iowa State to 28 points. We said, ‘Hey, the shots are going to fall.’ We thought we were getting good shots, so we just talked about how we were going to score better in the second half.”

Right on cue, Iowa blitzed the Cyclones 27-8 in the third quarter. After a poor first half, Clark hit her stride, making three 3-pointers. McKenna Warnock and Kate Martin each hit one. Iowa finished the quarter scoring on 9-of-12 possessions to take a 50-36 lead.

“We had a couple live-ball turnovers, which hurt,” Fennelly said. “They were really good in the third quarter.”

Meanwhile the Cyclones made only four field goals out of 12 shots, missed all of their 3-point attempts and all six of their free throws.

“I’m extremely happy with our defense,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “I thought our team played with such energy and such focus. That third quarter was probably one of the best third quarters I’ve seen.”

“I think we were a little hesitant,” Fennelly said of his team’s shooting woes. “We had good looks and people passed them up. And when you miss eight free throws in a row that gets in everyone’s head. And I thought they defended really well. Give them credit; they were very, very physical. When we passed up shots we played into their defense more.”

After Iowa took control in the third quarter, the fourth quarter was merely accounting.

Fennelly was disturbed by Iowa’s ability to make shots at the end of the shot clock.

“You’ve got to guard through the possession,” he said.

There was a reason that Iowa took its time when it couldn’t get something in transition.

“You know we’re not usually patient on offense,” Bluder said, getting a good laugh from reporters accustomed to Iowa’s frenetic pace. “But we felt like we really needed to work for good shots. Obviously (the Cyclones) had a good defensive effort in the first half, and we just wanted to work the offense a little bit longer.”

Iowa won the battle of the paint, outscoring ISU 26-16. Iowa outrebounded ISU by six. ISU’s 6-foot-6 center Stephanie Soares had 10 points and 11 rebounds, but she was 0-for-6 from the foul line. Iowa effectively double teamed Soares when she got the ball in the post. Czinano more than held her own with 10 rebounds and 18 points.

“We had some people come over to double and it just caused a little bit of chaos in there,” Czinano said.

ISU All-American Ashley Joens had 15 points as did Emily Ryan, and Lexi Donarski had 10. Iowa guarded Joens closely and was physical with her.

“They got up into us and did a lot of switching,” Fennelly said.

“I thought Kate and McKenna’s defensive effort tonight was outstanding,” Bluder said. “I thought those two guys really took the challenge of guarding Joens as Monika did guarding Soares.”

“I think we flustered them,” Clark said. “A couple 5-second calls, an out-of-bounds call.”

Iowa rediscovered Martin behind the arc. She made 3-of-4 threes and would have had another but the shot was ruled too late to count. Clark finished with 19, Martin 13 and Warnock nine.

Iowa had a couple injuries. Martin twisted her ankle just walking off the court after the celebration. Gabbie Marshall lost a tooth to a stray elbow. Iowa plays host to Minnesota Saturday at 8 p.m. in a resumption of Big Ten play.

Our State. #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/yCFPr6Dbgc

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 8, 2022