Just keep shooting and they’ll eventually start falling. That is what Coach Teri Moren would tell her team.
But once the Hoosiers hit a long-term shooting slump, that strategy changed.
It became a matter of finding different ways to score when 3’s weren’t falling.
On Sunday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa’s offense followed that pattern.
When 3-pointers weren’t going down in the first half, the No. 13 Hawkeyes found other options in the second. That eventually opened up the long-range shot in an 81-64 win over the Hoosiers in Iowa City.
The Hawkeye offense came alive during the final 20 minutes, and IU couldn’t keep up on either end of the floor in the 17-point loss.
Moren was disappointed with the carelessness of her point guards offensively, leading to extra opportunities for Iowa. Guards Tyra Buss, a freshman, and Larryn Brooks, a sophomore, turned the ball over five times each.
“They’re our primary ball handlers, they can’t turn it over,” Moren said. “We knew going into this thing, turning it over was going to allow them to get out and run and be great in transition, which is one of their strengths.”
Iowa’s poor first-half shooting helped keep IU in the game. The deficit for the Hoosiers was nine at halftime.
But after going 6-of-21 from beyond the arc, the Hawkeyes shot 57 percent from deep and 61 percent from the floor after the break.
Prior to the game, Moren knew the high-powered Iowa offense would be difficult to contain, especially with several matchup ?problems.
The Hoosiers stayed in a zone defense for the majority of the game, but failed to find Hawkeye shooters on the perimeter.
Four Iowa starters finished with 10 or more points, led by guard Melissa Dixon with 15.
In the second half, it wasn’t just the way the Hawkeyes shot the ball, but the way they shared it. Guard Samantha Logic, the NCAA’s active career assists leader, had a double-double with 11 assists to go with 11 points.
IU got a spark off the bench from freshman guard Jess Walter, who scored a game-high 18 points on a perfect 5-of-5 from 3-point range.
Sophomore Alexis Gassion, who scored 13 first-half points, earned her second double-double of the year with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She also led the team with five assists. Freshman forward Amanda Cahill contributed 10 points, all in the second half.
But those three players weren’t enough. That was Moren’s message to her team after the loss — everyone has to show up to play.
That’s the challenge going into Wednesday night’s game at Michigan.
“You’re not going to beat a team like Iowa with only three of your players or four of your players showing up to compete for 40 minutes,” Moren said.
“They’re just too good of a team.”
