Cold night, cold shooting

WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL >> HAWKEYES 68, GOPHERS 60

Slow start too much to overcome as Gophers fall to Iowa

Minnesota sophomore Grace Grocholski passes around Iowa defender Taylor McCabe in the first half of a Big Ten Conference basketball game on Thursday at Williams Arena. BRAD REMPEL — GOPHERS ATHLETICS

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By Mike Cook

Special to the Pioneer Press

Thursday’s game time temperature outside Williams Arena was 11 degrees.

Coincidentally, that is the same number as Iowa’s lead midway through the first quarter against a Gopher women’s basketball squad that began the game with its lowest point total (7) in a quarter this season.

Coupled with a strong defensive showing for more than three-quarters of the game, Minnesota heated up enough offensively to tie the game in the fourth quarter before a late Iowa surge resulted in a 68-60 Hawkeyes’ win. Iowa has won 11 straight in the series.

Minnesota shot 35.1% from the field in accumulating its second-lowest point total of the season, topping just the 53 at top-ranked UCLA Sunday.

“If you’re not going to make open arc shots, then you got to find different ways to attack. I thought we did that in late third into the fourth, but it took us a long time to get to that point in time or make open shots,” said coach Dawn Plitzuweit.

Minnesota (18-6, 6-6 Big Ten) has lost three straight games, four of five and five of seven.

“It’s very frustrating, but we can’t hang our heads now,” said Mallory Heyer, who recorded her team-best third double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. “We got to keep working, and we’re gonna go watch film and figure out what we did wrong and carry it into the next game.”

Tori McKinney led Minnesota with 16 points, Annika Stewart scored 14 and Amaya Battle added 12.

Minnesota tied the game at 51 with 4:33 to play, but a 13-5 Iowa run put the game away much to the delight of the boisterous faithful wearing black and yellow and chanting “Let’s Go Hawks” multiple times in the final frame.

“There were multiple times when we would cut it pretty close and then they would just score, they get a rebound, second chance shot, whatever it may be. … I know that we just can’t allow that to happen,” Battle said.

Iowa scored on seven straight possessions, including threes on consecutive possessions by Sydney Affolter and Taylor McCabe, the latter with 49 seconds left, put Iowa (16-7, 6-6) up 64-56.

“We broke down this in some discipline scenarios,” Plitzuweit said. “They refused two ball screens. They got the ball inside the (Hannah) Stuelke. We cut it back to one, gave up an offensive rebound and a free throw, and we got out-toughed in those situations or out-disciplined or whatever it is you want to call it.”

Stuelke led Iowa with 17 points. Affolter had 13 points and 14 rebounds.

Minnesota was down 18-7 after 10 minutes, making just three of 12 shots, including 1-for-3 from deep. The Gophers went more than 5 minutes without a point and committed six turnovers.

Heyer’s 3 got Minnesota within seven early in the second quarter, but Iowa countered with six straight points during a 4-plus minute Gopher point drought. Affolter’s layup with 1.6 seconds left had the Hawkeyes up 32-21 at intermission.