Fifth-ranked Iowa women fall 87-78 in top-5 showdown at No. 2 Indiana
Iowa commits 18 turnovers and misses 10 free throws
By Susan Harman
Iowa may have won three games from Indiana last season, but this is a different Hoosiers team. Clearly this team corrected its deficiencies against the Hawkeyes.
No. 2-ranked Indiana defeated fifth-ranked Iowa, 87-78, Thursday and took control of the Big Ten race. The Hoosiers are 13-1 in the league, and Iowa is 11-2. Maryland is next at 11-3
The Hoosiers had a world of motivation after last season when Iowa knocked them out of the regular-season race and beat them in the Big Ten tournament championship.
“I think Grace (Berger) said it best,” Indiana coach Teri Moren said. “We came up short three times to Iowa last year, and I think that some of our returnees, that stuck with them. They really, really wanted to play well in order to help their team win.”
In last season’s games Iowa post Monika Czinano owned the Hoosiers, averaging 27.6 points per game. Not Thursday. Czinano was held to six points, hitting 3-of-6 shots. She was in foul trouble all game against Indiana’s Mackenzie Holmes.
“I thought Mack did a tremendous job on Monika tonight,” Moren said.
What got lost in the Czinano avalanche last year was the fact that Holmes was not healthy. She had returned after surgery and wasn’t in a position to handle Czinano alone.
“I’m not who I was when I came back from surgery last season,” Holmes said. “I’ve tried to put that behind me. I learned from it.”
The Hoosiers took away Iowa’s crucial interior scoring. Hannah Stuelke scored 10 points and Addison O’Grady two, but that was it in the post. Iowa took only 12 shots among the three post players and made nine, but it wasn’t nearly enough.
“I knew the task at hand and knew the kind of player Czinano is going into the game,” Holmes said. “I just really tried to have a defensive mindset going into this game. I knew it was not going to be easy.’
The Hoosiers didn’t let Czinano set up in her comfort zone and most of the time brought help that forced her to pass the ball back out.
“Mack had great activity,” Moren said. “Iowa is an offensive machine. The challenge for Mackenzie was going to be not to allow deep touches, one, and angle touches.” Moren said Holmes worked at cutting off passing lanes and stayed active.
“Mackenzie Holmes was excellent in the post,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “Indiana did a great job. I’m not going to comment on what they did; I’m going to go back and watch the film.”
The Hoosiers turned the Hawkeyes into a one-dimensional team, the Caitlin Clark show. They did that by taking away Iowa’s interior scoring. Clark took 28 shots to score a game-high 35 points. The rest of the team took 34 shots.
Iowa contributed to its demise with 18 turnovers and 10 missed free throws.
“There were a lot of self-inflicted problems for us,” Clark said.
The two teams stayed close for three quarters, but Iowa just couldn’t get stops in the fourth. McKenna Warnock had 14 points and 11 rebounds in her best game since the injury at Michigan State. Iowa shot only 26 percent behind the arc while Indiana shot 50 percent.
Holmes finished with 24 points and six rebounds.
Berger finished with 26 points, nine rebounds and six assists. Iowa could not stay in front of the 5th-year grad student, and once she reached the lane she was going to score. Moren said that Berger just had that look in her eye.
“She played downhill all night,” Moren said. “Beat them to her spots. I thought she was being ultra-aggressive. I’ve been around Gracie long enough, had the pleasure of coaching her on nights when she is willing to try to take over and will her team to a victory.”
Iowa is 19-5 overall and plays host to Rutgers Sunday, while Indiana marched on with its gaudy 23-1 record. The Hoosiers still have to play Ohio State and Michigan, but Iowa probably can’t expect help. Iowa pulled it off last year nudging IU out of the race with two late, regular-season losses. But that was last year.
“I just think we’re a different team,” Moren said. “Mack is healthy. “We added more scoring power with Syd (Parrish) and Yorden (Garzon) and Sara (Scalia). This is a different team. We’re better. We have more pieces on the outside. Anytime you have floor spacers the way we have it opens it up on the inside for Mackenzie.”
Makes it look easy. @CaitlinClark22 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/tDwhB883Pp
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 10, 2023