By Hawk Fanatic

The Iowa women’s basketball team overcame a sluggish start against Penn State on Wednesday to achieve another milestone under first-year head coach Jan Jensen.

Iowa defeated Penn State 80-68 at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania, giving Jensen her first Big Ten road win as the Iowa head coach.

The score was even at 55 heading to the fourth quarter, but then Iowa pulled away in the final 10 minutes to improve to 12-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play.

Junior guard Taylor McCabe came off the bench to lead Iowa in scoring with 17 points. She made 5-of-8 shots from 3-point range, and that helped to compensate for her teammates shooting just 2-of-13 from behind the arc.

Iowa made seven of its last nine shots from the field and had a 9-0 scoring run in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“I think coming off our first Big Ten win and trying to get our first Big Ten road win, I think everybody was a little bit nervous because we have a lot of people that haven’t been in these types of situations,” McCabe said on the Learfield post-game radio show. “So, we’re also getting used to it together.”

McCabe was among four Iowa players to score in double figures, along with senior center Addi O’Grady (16), junior forward Hannah Stuelke (13) and graduate guard Lucy Olsen (11).

Olsen, who transferred from Villanova, was playing in her home state for the first time since she became a Hawkeye.

Iowa missed eight of its first nine shots from 3-point range to start the game and trailed 24-15 after the first quarter.

Jensen used 10 players in the first quarter, but six of them were held scoreless in the quarter.

Freshman center Ava Heiden provided a spark off the bench in the first quarter by scoring four points at a time when Iowa was struggling on offense. But the Oregon native also picked up two fouls in the quarter.

After having dug themselves an early hole, the Hawkeyes responded quickly in the second quarter with a 14-2 scoring run, taking a 29-26 lead.

The score would remain close throughout the second quarter, which end with Iowa clinging to a 38-36 lead.

McCabe made two of Iowa’s three 3-point baskets in the first half, and she was among three Iowa players that scored eight points in the first half, along with O’Grady and Stuelke.

Olsen only made 1-of-6 field-goal attempts in the first half and scored five points.

Freshman guard Taylor Stremlow had five of Iowa’s 11 assists in the first half while playing nine minutes off the bench.

The Hawkeyes had the lead and the momentum heading into the third quarter, and were just one half from giving Jensen her first Big Ten road win.

Iowa would go on to complete the task, and now returns home to face Maryland on Sunday.

Penn State tried to pressure Iowa on defense, which made sense since Iowa had struggled against defensive pressure in its two losses to Tennessee and Michigan State, committing 30 and 23 turnovers in those two games, respectively.

But in Wednesday’s victory, Iowa had 24 assists and just 12 turnovers, and that was with four freshmen playing significant minutes.

“I think that is what makes me the happiest is I thought we really handled the pressure,” Jensen said on the Learfield post-game radio show. “We made them pay with layups, I think at least two times, which is what you want to do when you break a press..

“So, I thought there was a lot of growth there. And we closed, that was the main thing. I was really disappointed with how we started. But it’s really difficult to win on the road.”