Iowa women take out frustration on Washington, cruising to 85-61 win in Seattle, ending five-game losing streak
By Pat Harty
First-year Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen couldn’t have drawn this up any better, or made it look any better in a dream.
The way in which her team dismantled Washington 85-61 on its home floor Wednesday in Seattle was an awesome display of execution, energy and perseverance, fueled partly by desperation and pride.
The same Iowa team that had lost five straight games played at an exceptionally high level as it took out its frustration on the Huskies, who despite being on their home court were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Graduate guard Lucy Olsen broke out of a shooting slump that had lasted throughout conference play, scoring 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting from the field, including 4-of-4 from 3-point range, while senior center Addi O’Grady dominated the paint with her strength and size, scoring 17 points.
Iowa shot 71.7 percent from the field, had 32-16 rebounding advantage and made 9-of-13 shots from 3-point range.
“I’m just really happy for our players because adversity is the greatest teacher in life and it kind of wore on them for a while,” Jensen said on the Peacock post-game interview. “But man, they showed up every day.
“So, I’m just really relieved for them and happy for them.”
The Hawkeyes did commit 23 turnovers, and Washington did cut into the deficit in the closing minutes with Iowa’s starters on the bench, but it didn’t matter as this game was never in doubt in the second half.
Iowa led 26-14 after the first quarter, 50-26 at halftime and 71-39 after three quarters.
It was just a steady beat down, something Jensen had been waiting so anxiously to see from her team, which still is learning how to play without Caitlin Clark as the do-everything point guard, and without Lisa Bluder as the head coach.
Bluder retired this past May after having led Iowa to NCAA runner-up finishes in each of the past two seasons and was replaced by Jensen, her long-time assistant.
Iowa won 12 of its first 14 games under Jensen, but then stumbled into a five-game losing streak, which equaled the number of losses Iowa had last season.
The players and coaches just needed to win a game to have something to feel good about again, and it was mission accomplished in dominating fashion.
Iowa improved to 13-7 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play, while Washington fell to 13-7 and 4-4.
What’s even more impressive about Wednesday’s rout is that Iowa dominated the Huskies on the road despite being without All-Big Ten junior forward Hannah Stuelke, who was back in Iowa City recovering from a concussion that she suffered late in the loss to Nebraska.
Stuelke will have almost another week to recover before Iowa plays its next game against Northwestern on Tuesday in Iowa City.
“She’s doing a few more things, I’m hopeful, but it was a pretty severe one,” Jensen said. “So, I’m thankful we don’t play this weekend.”
Iowa went on a 9-0 scoring in the first quarter of Wednesday’s game, turning a 9-4 deficit into a 13-9 lead.
That spurt would grow to a 22-5 scoring run to close the first quarter, thanks mostly to O’Grady, who scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field as Iowa led 26-14 heading to the second quarter.
Iowa made 12-of-17 field-goal attempts in the first quarter, and it was clear early on that O’Grady had a mismatch in the post, and that the sputtering Iowa offense was clicking.
Iowa scored eight straight points to start the second quarter, pushing the lead to 32-14 and causing Washington to call a time out with 8:10 left in the second quarter.
Olsen was on fire at that point, having made her first four shots from the field, including two from 3-point range.
She and O’Grady had outscored Washington 22-14 at that point.
Iowa would go on to build a 50-26 lead at halftime, shooting a blistering 74.1 percent from the field, including 8-for-8 from 3-point range.
Iowa had blown double-digit leads in two of its previous five straight losses, but the 24-point lead at halftime of Wednesday’s game was too much for Washington to overcome.