By Hawk Fanatic

Jan Jensen will not finished undefeated as the Iowa women’s basketball coach.

A deep and athletic Tennessee squad, powered by its relentless pressure defense, which forced a whopping 30 turnovers, made sure of that by defeating Iowa 78-68 in the Women’s Champions Classic on Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.

It was Iowa’s first loss in nine games under Jensen.

The Lady Vols closed the game on a 14-1 scoring run and prevailed despite only making 7-of-29 shots from 3-point range.

Tennessee had 18 steals and outscored Iowa 42-4 in points off turnovers.

“The key to the game I thought was who was really going to be poised and I don’t think we had that at all,” Jensen said on the Learfield post-game radio show.

Iowa also struggled from three, making just 3 of 14 attempts.

Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen led Iowa in scoring with 23 points, while senior center Addi O’Grady finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

They were the only Iowa players to score in double figures.

Olsen had missed the previous two games in Cancun, Mexico due to a laceration on her knee, but she showed no signs of the injury with her performance in Saturday’s game as she made all nine of her free throws and had five assists.

Iowa junior forward Hannah Stuelke grabbed 10 rebounds, but she only made 1-of-8 field-goal attempts and finished with eight points.

Senior guard Syd Affolter also helped on the boards with eight rebounds, but she only scored two points and took two shots in 35 minutes of playing time.

Iowa had a 48-33 rebounding advantage, but the difference in points off turnovers was too much to overcome.

Tennessee bolted to a 10-2 lead, but Iowa answered right back due largely to Olsen as she scored 11 points in the first quarter, which ended with Iowa leading, 22-18.

Tennessee missed all 11 of its shots from 3-pont range in the first quarter.

The Lady Vols continued to struggle from 3-point range in the second quarter, making just one.

But their pressure defense kept the score close as Iowa committed 18 turnovers in the first half.

“We turned the ball over at that first beginning and gave them a lot of hope,” Jensen said.

Tennessee scored 23 points off those 18 turnovers in the first half, and that helped Tennessee compensate for missing all but two of its 16 shots from 3-point range in the first two quarters.

The first half ended with the score even at 35, and with Iowa struggling to protect the basketball and with Tennessee struggling to make 3-point shots.

Iowa committed 12 turnovers in the second half, and that was too much to overcome against an opponent that only shot 39 percent from the field.

“It’s tough to still be in a game when you have thirty turnovers as a team,” O’Grady said. “But I think they were really up in us, the pressure was the biggest thing.”

Iowa fell to 8-1 and now faces another tough opponent, but this time at home, with Iowa State up next Wednesday in Iowa City.

“You want to feel better, we have to make sure we rebound,” said Jensen, who was promoted to head coach this past May, and on the same day Lisa Bluder announced her retirement. “We’ve got a big task ahead.”