INDIANAPOLIS, IN:
Defense and pressure was the name of the game and Iowa and Michigan traded punches for three quarters before Iowa used a massive effort from Hannah Stuelke who scored seven points in the first 2:23 of the quarter to put Iowa ahead to stay at 42-38. The Hawkeyes went on to outscore Michigan 24-6 in the 4th to move on to play UCLA tomorrow for the tournament championship.
Iowa came out strong starting the game with a 9-0 run with 6 points from Heiden and a three from Stremlow and didn’t let up. The Hawkeyes were pushing hard to pass the ball to the inside even under tight defense early but abruptly changed course to driving to midrange jumpers after establishing a lead. Michigan was able to put in their first bucket after three minutes of play but struggled to gain any momentum against the Hawkeye defense. Michigan shooting only 2 of 16 from the field in the first quarter. Iowa led 13-4 after ten minutes of play. Notably, Iowa’s Steulke appeared to be playing a little further from the hoop than usual and in a bit more conservative style than is typical which could be due to her lingering elbow injury.
The second quarter brought a completely different play style. Michigan drastically stepped up their aggressiveness on defense with continual full court presses causing Iowa turnovers while getting warmer on shots including Swords hitting back-to-back threes. Iowa’s Wright answered with a long three pointer of her own but Michigan had cut Iowa’s lead to just three at the media timeout. Iowa came back hitting a quick 6-0 run with Wright, Deal, and Houston contributing. Michigan outscored Iowa by three points in the second. Iowa was still up 28-22 at the half.
Michigan continued to do damage in the third quarter with a couple quick buckets and Iowa turnovers. They were able to take their first lead of the game four minutes in at 31-34. Iowa’s Stuelke has only made two shot attempts thus far missing both. Both teams then spent five and a half minutes in nothing but turnovers (12 this quarter alone between the teams) and fouls. Steulke broke the scoring drought with a bucket followed by a rebound the next play, her eighth of the game). Michigan led by one most of the quarter and after 30 minutes of play Iowa is trailing Michigan 35-36.
Stuelke came out aggressive in the fourth with a three-point play putting Iowa back in the lead followed by another two putting Iowa up 40-36. She then caused a foul call but didn’t slow down and put up two more points keeping the Hawks up 42-38 and causing a Michigan timeout to regroup after just three minutes. Chit Chat then hit a three to extend the lead to seven as the game continued to get more physical. Them Stremlow drained a three pushing Iowa up by ten, followed by a strip, and then a rebound with five minutes to play.
Heiden continued the 10-0 Iowa run before Michigan was able to stop it. A couple minutes were killed without scoring but with increasing foul counts putting Michigan in the bonus with three minutes to play followed by Iowa gaining the bonus as well. Stremlow hit a three putting Iowa up by 13 with just over a minute to play. Stuelke found herself with another three point play putting Iowa up by 15. Some careful clock management and a bucket by Heiden put Iowa up 59-42 at the end.
Michigan (25-6) set a program record for regular season and conference wins. Their last two losses were to the Hawkeyes, who won 62-44 in Iowa City.
Iowa and UCLA will tip off at 1:15 p.m. in the finals. You can hear the game on AM 860/FM 95.1 KWPC. Coverage is brought to you Muscatine Power and Water and Ed Morse Chevy, Buick and GMC.
