By John Bohnenkamp

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Jan Jensen used everybody that was available in Iowa’s 86-69 win over Western Illinois at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

There were only 11 players.

The 11th-ranked Hawkeyes are a little beat up these days. Unbeaten, yes, but not at full strength.

Chazadi “Chit-Chat” Wright, Emely Rodriguez, and Teagan Mallegni weren’t available for this game, which gave other players more opportunities to show what they can do.

“It’s definitely hard when you have a few people go down,” said guard Taylor McCabe, who had 15 points. “We’re definitely missing some people right now.”

And yet the Hawkeyes (7-0) kept their momentum.

“I really think that is kind of a hallmark of our program,” Jensen said. “You know that you just kind of have to be ready. You know your role, and you know, it might change game to game. And these are kind of the moments that you’re ready for.”

Addie Deal looked ready for the moment.

The freshman had season highs in points (17) and assists (5), looking the most comfortable she has all season as she got time at both point guard and the ‘2’ guard.

“I’m comfortable playing point guard,” she said. “I’m happy to be whoever the coaches want me. But I thought we played really good as a team.”

Deal was 7 of 10 from the field, including 3 of 4 in 3-pointers.

“She just was able to kind of think, just step back and let herself develop a little more and improve, and just go for it,” Jensen said. “You’re coming in and you have all of everybody’s expectations, but when you watch the film and you see where we needed to have some growth, you get a little bit more comfortable.”

This wasn’t exactly a smooth game — Jensen called it “slodgy,” a term that she said you have to see to understand. Iowa led 44-25 at halftime, then got outscored by the Leathernecks (4-1) 44-42 in the second half.

“It just isn’t fluid,” Jensen said of the term she coined. “It’s kind of like tough sledding, you know, it’s like, where something is real simple, but we’ll kind of make it hard. And I think that’s a little bit of our youth, sometimes.”

The Leathernecks weren’t going to be a match for the Hawkeyes’ size, and Iowa took advantage of that throughout the first half. Iowa had 30 points in the paint, compared to just eight for Western Illinois. Centers Ava Heiden and Layla Hays didn’t miss a shot — Heiden was 5 of 5, while Hays made both of her attempts.

Heiden finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Hannah Stuelke had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Jensen hopes to have more to work with in Sunday’s home game against Fairfield. Rodriguez and Wright are “day-to-day,” Jensen said, while Mallegni isn’t expected back until next week.

Until then, the Hawkeyes will just have to keep fitting pieces, something Jensen said she has had to do in these opening weeks of the season.

“It’s definitely good for our depth and growth as a team, because then you have more people getting more reps,” McCable said. :And I know that when they come back they’ll be well integrated into the system again. But for now, we just got to make the best of it and keep rolling.”