Maryland women’s basketball guard Channise Lewis drilled a triple to bring her squad within one point of Iowa with 3:25 left in the game, putting the Terps within arms’ reach despite a hefty second-half deficit.
But the Hawkeyes scored the next five points — including a three-point dagger from guard Alexis Sevillian — to distance themselves once more from the Terps. Iowa held on to beat Maryland, 86-73, for the first time since 1992, behind 31 points from Gustafson.
The victory moved Iowa to a tie with the Terps for first place atop the Big Ten standings.
“I love the fact that our kids never quit,” coach Brenda Frese said. “Iowa did a tremendous job. We tried to throw everything at Megan.”
As Frese noted, the Terps focused all their attention on Gustafson, the NCAA’s leading scorer, at the onset.
Whenever Iowa (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) fed Gustafson on the block, she was met by a double team. And when she split the initial pressure, Maryland (23-3, 12-3) even occasionally sent a third defender to prevent the All-American from spinning to the hole.
Gustafson entered Sunday’s contest averaging 27.3 points per game on 70.9 percent shooting, but at the end of the opening half, she had just seven points on 3-of-7 shooting.
And while the game plan was initially effective at slowing Iowa’s most lethal offensive weapon, the attention on Gustafson often led to easy baskets under the rim for her teammates. The Hawkeyes led 17-14 after the first 10 minutes behind a 12-4 edge in the paint.
With a 25-18 deficit, Maryland’s freshmen provided a spark. Guard Taylor Mikesell drilled a pair of threes and forward Shakira Austin converted an and-1 as part of a 9-0 run. The streak was upped to 11-0 after a lay-in by forward Stephanie Jones — who finished with a team-high 21 points on 10-of-16 shooting — and the Terps took a 29-25 lead.
“We knew that their game plan would be either to do a triangle-and-two or a zone,” said Jones. “So [we tried] to constantly move around the court and find each other in the open spot.”
Yet, despite the burst, Gustafson finally began to get going in the final two minutes of the first half with five quick points, and the game was knotted at 33-33 entering the break.
Maryland could only hold Gustafson down for so long, and after an old-fashioned three-point play capped off a 10-2 run — where she contributed six points — Iowa’s lead was up to a then-game-high eight points.
“They made a focus of going into her,” Frese said of Gustafson. “She never stops working. … She’s just a matchup nightmare.”
The most significant shift between halves was the Hawkeyes’ newfound propensity to get to the line. Iowa shot just four foul shots before the break, but the Hawkeyes’ commitment to attacking the post garnered an enormous 25 attempts from the stripe after halftime — Iowa made 23 of them. The Terps, meanwhile, made just eight trips to the line the entire contest.
“When you only get eight free throw attempts,” Frese said, “that’s a big difference in this game.”
Gustafson was 10-for-11 from the line in the second half alone.
But as the Hawkeyes’ leading scorer began to heat up, the Terps’ leader continued to remain ice cold. Guard Kaila Charles was held scoreless in the opening half —missing all four of her shots — and she finished just 1-for-13 from the field. Her two-point output was the lowest of her career.
“An uncharacteristic game from Kaila Charles,” Frese said. “I thought their defensive game plan was spectacular. Obviously, she’s not going to have another game like that for us.”
The Hawkeyes continued to feed Gustafson on nearly every possession, and behind the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year’s 12 third-quarter points, Iowa entered the final 10 minutes maintaining a 58-50 edge.
Maryland opened the final period with a 9-0 run in just over two minutes, taking a one-point lead in the deciding frame. Charles, who has often been a force for Maryland, finally scored a layup with 1:30 remaining to cut her team’s deficit down to four points.
But it came too late. A 3-pointer a minute earlier from Sevillian pushed the Hawkeyes’ edge to two possessions, and with Maryland pushing with time winding down, a turnover from Lewis put the game on ice. Iowa knocked down its final seven free throws to break the Terps’ eight-game winning streak.
“Iowa makes us better,” Frese said. “This game will make us better for what lies out ahead.”
