Fresh off their first loss of the season against the now-No. 19 Tennessee Lady Vols, the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes had to fight tooth and nail to defeat their state rival No. 18 Iowa State, 75-67, in the annual Cy-Hawk Series. It is their eighth win out of the last nine matchups.
Before a loud, sell-out crowd at Carver Hawkeye Arena, the Hawkeyes didn’t come storming out of the gates, but found their footing at the right time.
In the beginning, it was a tug-of-war battle with the Cyclones, who were led by sophomore center Audi Crooks, having the advantage most of the way. The Hawkeyes struggled to generate points, particularly from the 3-point line as they went 0-for-8 through the first quarter. They had to rely on the midrange excellence of senior guard Lucy Olsen as she carried the offense through the first half, including scoring Iowa’s first eight points.
To compensate, the Hawkeye defense forced the Cyclones into turnovers and offense fouls to retake control of the game. If that wasn’t enough, they had to also contend with the referees, who seemingly found a way to slow down the pace of the game with repeated foul calls. There were 17 fouls by the early part of the second quarter, much to the chagrin of Hawkeye head coach Jan Jensen, who didn’t relent in…
