By Dallas Jones

IOWA CITY, IA – Friday night hoops came to Carver-Hawkeye arena as the #22 Iowa Hawkeyes (9-2) hosted the Northern Iowa Panthers (5-5).

While the Panthers suffered off a double digit loss in their last game against South Dakota State, they took down the Iowa State Cyclones 87-75 earlier this season. The Hawkeyes on the other hand have lost two of their last three after a close 68-66 loss at Michigan State this past Sunday.

The Panthers brought their best tonight as Maya McDermott’s 30 points led all scorers, but Lucy Olsen and the Hawkeyes walked away victorious. Here is how it happened.

First quarter: Iowa came out with a lot of intensity early and it showed on the scoreboard. The Hawkeyes played ten different players in the quarter and outscored the Panthers 23-12. They held UNI to just 5-17 from the field and 0-5 from three.

Hannah Stuelke came out strong as she put up four points, three rebounds and two assists in six first quarter minutes.

Syd starting earlyyy ‍↕️@sydneyaffolter1 x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/fr70Haaj3e

— Iowa Women’s Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 21, 2024

Second quarter: The Hawkeyes carried their momentum to the second quarter as they made all four attempts to begin the quarter, starting the quarter on a 9-2 run.

Addi O’Grady led the scoring for the Hawkeyes as she dominated the paint, making six of her eight shot attempts in the paint for twelve first half points.

The main difference in the half was the bench scoring as the Hawkeye bench outscored the Panthers 25-4. Most of the points came from guard Taylor McCabe (9) and forward Teagan Mallegni (9).

UNI showed some fight  as their leading scorer on the season Maya McDermott put up ten points in the quarter. Kayba Laube added 11 of her own in the quarter while knocking down three shots from deep. The Panthers doubled their first quarter points in the second, but still trailed big at the break.

Third quarter: UNI would need a spark to get back into this game and Maya McDermott and Kayda Laube stayed hot from the second quarter as UNI cut the lead to ten points after a layup from McDormett and a three from Laube.

The turnover bug would hit the Hawkeyes big in the quarter as they matched their first half total in the third quarter with over three minutes left still. Iowa watched its 16 point lead dwindle to just seven at 65-58. A game that once looked like a blowout, turned into a classic quickly as the Hawkeyes led by just eight points going into the fourth quarter.

Fourth quarter: The Panthers started the final quarter with a couple quick baskets and the lead was just four in Carver-Hawkeye Arena before Addi O’Grady responded with back to back baskets.

Sydney Affolter picked up her fourth foul of the game in the third and the Hawkeyes were clearly hurting without her impact as with six minutes left to play, the game was within one possession for the first time since the first quarter 74-72.

Maya McDermott put on an absolute clinic all second half. She had 17 points in the second half and after a three from McDermott, UNI cut the lead to just one. Iowa responded as Hannah Stuekle found Taylor McCabe for a huge three. Iowa led 81-77 with 3:59 left to play at the time.

McDermott continued to exploit the Hawkeye defense as she finished with xx points. Even with McDermott’s heroic half, Iowa had the ball up two with under a minute when Hannah Stuelke made a layup to stretch the lead to four with 36 seconds left. Stuelke then blocked a McDermott layup on the other end, a sequence that all but sealed the game.

See what both teams had to say postgame here: