By Hawk Fanatic

The Iowa women’s basketball team is now just one win from sweeping its three instate opponents for a fourth consecutive season.

No. 21 Iowa crushed Northern Iowa 74-41 on Sunday in Cedar Falls, improving to 4-0 under second-year head coach Jan Jensen.

The game drew a record attendance of 7,146 to the McLeod Center, which is the largest attendance ever for a women’s sporting event at the venue.

Sunday’s win came three days after Iowa had demolished Drake 100-58 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa has now won 11 straight games against its three instate foes.

All that’s standing in the way of another instate sweep is a game against Iowa State on Dec. 10 in Ames, although that game figures to be more competitive.

Sunday’s game against UNI was competitive in the first quarter as the Panthers tried to slow the pace and melt the clock.

That strategy worked for a while as Iowa failed to make a basket for over five minutes to begin the game.

However, the problem with that strategy is that UNI (0-3) only scored eight points in the first quarter and then trailed 35-15 at halftime.

The game was never competitive in the second half as Iowa led 60-26 after three quarters.

“I just felt like we looked a little sluggish and credit UNI at the beginning,” Jensen said in her post-game press conference. “Our offense wasn’t there, but I’m thankful that when our offense was a little sluggish that we did have our defense going.

“I wish we weren’t so flat. I wish it would have been a little prettier to watch. But the positive is that we had flat performance, but still won soundly.”

Sophomore point guard Chit-Chat Wright, a transfer from Georgia Tech, led Iowa with 19 points in Sunday’s win on 7-of-8 shooting from the field. She also made all three of her shots from 3-point range and has combined to make seven threes in the last two games.

Through four games as a Hawkeye, the 5-foot-4 Wright is 11-for-18 from 3-point range.

Freshman center Layla Hays also came off the bench to score in double figures with 14 points. The 6-5 Hays has recorded at least 10 points and five rebounds in three straight games.

Iowa had a 35-9 advantage in bench points and a 34-14 advantage in points in the paint.

Iowa has won six straight games against UNI and 17 of the last 18 in the series. Iowa also has defeated Northern Iowa by at least 10 points in five of the last six meetings.

The competition will improve significantly when Iowa faces No. 7 Baylor in its next game on Thursday in Orlando, Florida as part of WBCA State Farm Showcase. Iowa will also face Miami (Fla.) on Saturday in Orlando before returning to play Western Illinois on Nov. 26.

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