By Hawk Fanatic

What started as a two-game road trip to Los Angeles filled with hope and optimism ended with the Iowa women’s basketball team losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.

The eighth-ranked Hawkeyes fell to No. 2 UCLA 88-65 on Sunday at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Sunday’s 23-point loss came three days after Iowa fell to USC 81-69 this past Thursday on the other side of Los Angeles.

Iowa is now 18-4 overall and 9-2 in the Big Ten, while UCLA improved to 21-1 and 11-0 in conference play.

Iowa trimmed the deficit to 13 points (66-53) in the fourth quarter, but then UCLA head coach Cori Close called a timeout and what she said to her players seems to have lit a spark as the Bruins responded with a 20-6 scoring run to put the game away.

Sophomore center Ava Heiden led four Iowa players in double figures with 19 points, all of which she scored in the second half while playing mostly against UCLA’s 6-foot-7 star center Lauren Betts.

“I think in the first half a few shots that I had were good, they just didn’t go down,” Heiden said on the Learfield post-game interview. “So coming out, just making sure to stay strong and keep going after it and get her (Betts) in foul trouble,

“That was our main goal.”

Betts did have foul trouble as she only played 21 minutes and was whistled for foul fouls. But she still finished with 16 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field.

Iowa senior forward Hannah Stuelke finished with 13 points and eight rebounds while sophomore guards Taylor Stremlow and Chit-Chat Wright scored 12 and 10 points, respectively.

UCLA had five players that scored in double figures, including four starters.

Iowa was playing its second full game without starting senior guard Taylor McCabe, who suffered a career-ending knee injury in the opening seconds of last Sunday’s 91-70 victory over then-12th-ranked Ohio State last Sunday in Iowa City.

Iowa only made 5-of-21 shots from 3-point range in Sunday’s loss, while UCLA was 6-for-12 from three.

Iowa also committed 19 turnovers and was outscored 56-26 in the paint.

The Hawkeyes also struggled with turnovers in the loss to USC.

“We had turnovers at USC and we had too many today,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said on the Learfield pot-game radio interview. “I think their defense is really good. USC’s defense I think is a little more hands-on, in your face and pressured us a little more.

“I think (UCLA) pressured us more in the first half. But I also think we had just some silly turnovers. If we had 19, I bet you seven of them were just kind of, ‘oh boy, I wish we could rewind that.’ And you just can’t do that against really, really good teams.”

Iowa has now faced the No. 1 and No. 2 ranked teams in the country this season. The Hawkeyes fell to top-ranked Connecticut 90-64 on Dec. 20 in Brooklyn, New York.

“We played Connecticut ranked No. 1 and we’ve now played UCLA and there’s no question in my mind who No. 1 is. We haven’t played three or four, but I wouldn’t argue against UCLA. They just have so many weapons and they’re so efficient.”

In the first quarter, Iowa committed five turnovers, made just 1-of-5 from shots from three and was outscored 14-8 in the paint, and yet, still only trailed 17-13 heading to the second quarter.

Stuelke had three rebounds in the first quarter after having just one rebound in the loss to USC on Thursday.

Stuelke drew a second foul on Lauren Betts with 6 minutes, 14 seconds left in the second quarter. Stuelke then made both free throws, cutting the deficit to 25-18, while Lauren Betts went to the bench with two fouls.

But then Stuelke picked up her second foul with 5:22 left in the second quarter, and after a review by the officials, it was upgraded to a flagrant one foul.

UCLA made both free throws to expand its lead to 27-18, and then followed with back-to-back layups, increasing the lead to 31-19 with 4:21 left in the second quarter.

Chit-Chat Wright then made a three to cut the deficit to 31-21 with with 3:59 left in the second quarter.

Wright also made two free throws to cut the deficit to single digits at 36-28 with 26 seconds left before halftime.

However, the Bruins made a three with one second remaining on the clock, pushing their lead back to double figures (39-28) heading to halftime.

UCLA made 9-of-13 field-goal attempts in the second quarter, while Iowa missed eight of its 12 shots in the second quarter.

Heiden also picked up two fouls in the first half and she was on the bench with Stuelke in the final minutes of the second quarter.

Heiden was among three starters for Iowa who didn’t score in the first half, along with Addie Deal and senior guard Kylie Feuerbach.

Wright led Iowa with 10 points in the first half while playing all but two minutes in the half.

But then Wright was held scoreless in the second half as was Feuerbach, who missed all five of her shots from the field.

Deal, a former five-star recruit from nearby Irvine, California, finally scored her first points on the West Coast trip in the second half on Sunday as she finished with three points on a basket and one free throw.

She was held scoreless in the loss to USC.

Prior to the start of the third quarter of Sunday’s game, it was ruled that Lauren Betts didn’t have two fouls, so the Bruins caught a break, although, Betts already had spent extended minutes on the bench in the second quarter.

Betts then picked up her second foul with 7:21 left in the third quarter while defending against Heiden, who made two free throws to trim the deficit to 47-36.

Heiden also made a jump shot to cut the deficit to 49-38 with 6:44 left in the third quarter, but then UCLA answered with six straight points, expanding its lead to 55-38 with 4:24 left in the quarter.

Lauren Betts picked up her fourth foul with 1:04 left in the third quarter, but the Bruins were leading 62-41 at the time.

Heiden then made both free throws following the Betts foul, and then Heiden also made basket with 27 seconds left in the quarter, cutting the deficit to 62-45 heading to the fourth quarter.

Heiden scored 14 of Iowa’s 17 points in the third quarter.

Heiden then picked up her fourth foul early in the fourth quarter, sending her back to the bench with her team trailing by double figures. The deficit would then swell to over 20 points.

Iowa will return home to face Minnesota on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.