Iowa guard Gabbie Marshall (24) gets an assist as she passes the ball to forward Logan Cook (23) during the first quarter of LAST Wednesday's game against Ohio State at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Before taking the court for practice Friday morning, associate head coach Jan Jensen offered some words of wisdom to a young Iowa women’s basketball team looking to move beyond a two-game losing streak.
“She told us, ‘Winning is a good deodorant, it masks a lot of things,’ and that is really true,’’ Iowa junior Monika Czinano said. “Losing really is a jump-start. We need to reset. The reality is we’re a young team with a lot of room to grow.’’
The Hawkeyes began dealing with that reality after letting a four-point lead slip away in the final 90 seconds of regulation in an 84-82 overtime loss to 15th-ranked Ohio State on Wednesday.
The loss was the first ever at Carver-Hawkeye Arena for Czinano as well as the rest of Iowa’s starting five.
“There aren’t a lot of players who can say that they hadn’t lost a home game until they were a junior,’’ Czinano said.
The setback ended a 42-game home winning streak for Iowa and left the Hawkeyes in a position where they need a win in Monday’s 3:30 p.m. game (BTN) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena against Purdue to avoid the program’s first three-game slide since mid-January of the 2017-18 season.
But before moving on to preparations for the Boilermakers, the Hawkeyes moved beyond their consecutive losses to Northwestern and Ohio State.
Team captains held a meeting prior to Friday’s practice, something sophomore forward McKenna Warnock described as “good conversation as a team.’’
She said the talk centered on finding ways for the Hawkeyes to move forward as they prepare for a busy week.
After hosting Purdue, Iowa plays at Maryland on Thursday and will then bus to Rutgers for a game on Sunday before returning to Iowa City.
“We’re a young team and we’re going to make mistakes. I thought the team did a great job moving on,’’ Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, referencing her team’s first practice after the Ohio State loss. “I thought we had a really good practice, a lot of energy, and with a tough week ahead, that’s what we needed.’’
Turnover issues impacted Iowa’s chances of winning in each of its last two games. Northwestern scored 28 points off of 18 Hawkeye turnovers and Ohio State collected 26 of its points off of an equal number of turnovers.
Bluder watched the Hawkeyes stray from their game in both contests, trying to complete “home run passes’’ instead of “safe’’ passes late in the loss to the Buckeyes and getting away from the up-tempo approach Iowa wants at times.
“We walked the ball up the floor too often,’’ Bluder said. “We want to push the pace and I felt like we got away from that.’’
Iowa is 8-3 on the season and 4-3 in the Big Ten, but Czinano said the Hawkeyes were at a point where a team conversation was needed.
“We have to change what we’re doing,’’ Czinano said. “We had a good team meeting. … We are a young team and we are learning every week. If we continue to learn, a lot of good things can happen. We’re excited about the possibilities.’’
January 18, 2021 at 03:47AM
https://qctimes.com/sports/basketball/after-losing-two-hawkeyes-seek-a-fresh-start/article_077852d8-317f-57b7-bf43-608b2581109d.html
After losing two, Hawkeyes seek a fresh start - Quad City Times
https://news.google.com/search?q=fresh&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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