By Hawk Fanatic

For the first time in over two years, the Iowa women’s basketball team has lost back-to-back games.

Illinois defeated the Hawkeyes 62-57 on Thursday in Champaign, Illinois.

The last time Iowa lost back-to-back games was on Nov. 27, 2022 and Dec. 1, 2022, losing to Connecticut and North Carolina State by scores of 86-79 and 94-81, respectively.

Iowa bolted to a 9-2 lead in Thursday’s game, but then Illinois outscored the Hawkeyes 14-7 for the rest of the quarter, evening the score at 16 heading to the second quarter.

The score would stay close the rest of the way as each team had mini scoring runs.

Both teams shot 40 percent from the field, and Iowa had a 42-31 rebounding advantage.

Junior forward Hannah Stuelke and graduate guard Lucy Olsen led Iowa in scoring with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

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

Iowa struggled again with turnovers, committing 18 in Thursday’s loss. Iowa has now committed 92 turnovers in its four losses this season.

Iowa also struggled from 3-point range, making just 5-of-20 attempts.

Free throws were another problem as Iowa only made 8-of-17 attempts.

First-year Iowa head coach Jan Jensen changed her starting lineup for the first time this season, inserting freshman point guard Aaliyah Guyton for senior center Addi O’Grady.

Guyton played 16 minutes, scored two points and committed four turnovers,

Iowa was coming off a 74-66 loss to Maryland this past Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena and will try to avoid losing three games in a row when it hosts Indian Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.