By Susan Harman

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Following three emotional, adrenaline-fueled days at the Big Ten Tournament in Minneapolis, the Iowa women’s basketball team rested. For a couple days anyway.

“We needed some rest,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “We didn’t get back (from the tournament) until 2 o’clock in the morning because of the weather, so we needed some rest. And we gave them a couple days rest. And then really it’s been business as usual trying to get back into it.

“(Sunday) we had a great practice. I think the team is really locked in and focused. I feel like they’ve put the Big Ten championship behind, and we’re moving on to this.”

Super senior Monika Czinano agreed as to what the team needed after “some of the most intense basketball days that you’ll ever have as a college athlete.”

“It’s a really long season,” she said. “I think our team is so mature. We’re so wise with how we spend our days off really using it to kind of make our bodies better. Coach Bluder talks about that, whether it’s getting in the gym countless hours, taking the whole day off, like kind of doing what you need to do.

“But even like after practice (Sunday) we all just said we felt so good. Like our bodies just felt so good.”

Czinano said the team spent time reviewing their own sets and putting in some new things that game tape won’t reveal to opponents. “I think it’s just getting better,” she said. “We have this time and we don’t know who we’re playing. So we have this opportunity to kind of tweak some stuff for us.”

Considering the opponents, the timetable and the stakes, Iowa put together a three-game stretch that was probably its best of the season. During the three tournament games Iowa averaged .511 from the floor, .388 from 3-point range and .842 from the free-throw line. Iowa averaged a 6.3 rebound margin, and 22 assists to 14.3 turnovers.

In addition it got contributions from Gabbie Marshall, who has emerged from her early season slump with a vengeance. Marshall made seven 3-pointers against Maryland and made 13 of 21 threes in the tournament. Clark and Czinano were the pair everyone expected this season, and against Maryland Iowa had five players score in double figures.

“I would say we played probably the best basketball all year,” Marshall said. “And it was just really cool to see. We played so together. We were locked in the whole time. And it’s just cool to go back to back. I just felt like we had a new type of energy this year at the tournament.”

To put it bluntly Iowa was hot, but because of the Big Ten women’s schedule players have to wait 12 days to play someone else. Half of that time was spent not knowing the identity of its next opponent.

Some players would have preferred less down time.

“Sometimes our bodies are a little old now,” senior McKenna Warnock joked. “Honestly, I would rather have played this week. I think that you don’t always want all the time. Some people definitely do. But we’re playing so well right now that I kind of wanted to get out there. I was really excited.”

Marshall agreed.

“No, we wanted more,” she said. “Come on, we wanted to start the tournament the next day.”

Marshall said she stayed in the gym during the “off days,” something she didn’t do last year.

The Big 12 women’s tournament was played this week. Will teams like Iowa State and Texas have an advantage because their schedule was more normal or do the other Power-5 conferences who have long stretches between games have an advantage in having their players rested?

Of the teams visiting Iowa City this weekend only Southeastern Louisiana’s conference tournament went as late as March 9. Both the ACC and SEC were on the same schedule as the Big Ten.