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Ava Heiden notched another double-double onto her belt with a 16 point, 14 rebound performance and Chit-Chat Wright returned to form with 14 points on 4-7 shots from deep, as the Iowa Hawkeyes used a 3rd quarter surge to end the regular season with an 81-52 victory over the Wisconsin Badgers.
Iowa ends the regular season with a second-place finish in the Big Ten with a 24-5 (15-3 B1G) record, while Wisconsin finishes 13-16 (5-13 B1G) and will head into the conference tournament on a 9 game losing streak. The win also secure’s Iowa’s position as the No. 2 overall seed of the year’s Big Ten Tournament, where they’ll have a double-bye, playing their first game of the postseason on Friday. Iowa’s opponents will be finalized tonight at the conclusion of the day’s games.
It was Iowa’s second game of the season without Hannah Stuelke, who missed today’s game to nurse an elbow injury. In the team’s only other game of the season without Stuelke, the Hawkeyes saw a 20+ point lead dip in the second half of their matchup at Purdue. Against Wisconsin, after entering the second half clinging to a 4-point lead, Iowa used a 26-9 third quarter performance to put the game out of reach for the Badgers.
The Hawkeyes got contributions up and down the roster. Taylor Stremlow continued to shine in the starting lineup, logging 12 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds. Kylie Feuerbach and Journey Houston rounded out the starting lineup with 8 points apiece, while Teagan Mallegni and Layla Hays each scored 10 points off the bench.
Heiden, freshly removed from her career-high 28 point game against Illinois picked up right where she left off on Thursday, scoring all of Iowa’s first 6 points as her teammate’s jumpers didn’t fall, resulting in an early 9-6 lead for the Badgers.
The Hawkeyes took the lead on a 3-pointer from Wright but the Badgers took back the lead, jumping out to a 13-10 lead as Iowa went on a more than two minute scoring drought. Things were possibly looking dicey until Teagan Mallegni found Heiden underneath the basket for a layup that began a 9-0 run for the Hawkeyes that should have ended the quarter…except that Wisconsin guard Nikki Kerstein hit a 3/4 court heave at the buzzer to keep Iowa from completely running away from the game.
Entering the second quarter up 19-16, both teams struggled to score. It took more than two minutes of gameplay for either team to increase the scoring column, as Iowa played well defensively against the Badgers and fought to grab defensive rebounds, but couldn’t find the bottom of the net on the other end of the court.
It took until the 7:21 mark of the second quarter before any points were scored, as Wisconsin hit a pair of free throws after Feuerbach was sent to the bench with her second foul. That re-opened the gate for both teams, as Stremlow followed it up with a basket to get the lead back to 3, bringing on a ‘Let’s go Hawks!‘ chant throughout the Kohl Center (a truly beautiful thing to hear).
Basketball, they always say, is a game of runs, and after Iowa went on a small run of their own to get out to a 5-point lead, the Badgers responded with a run of their own, taking back a 24-23 lead halfway through the second quarter. Tied at 28 with just over a minute left in the quarter, Wright hit a huge 3-pointer to not only give her team back the lead, but took the lid off for Wright, who had struggled scoring in previous games, and the Hawkeyes entered the half leading 33-29.
Iowa started the second half with a steal from Wright that led to an immediate 3 from Feuerbach. A miss from the Badgers led to an initial miss on the other end, but an offensive rebound from Houston was kicked out to Wright, who hit another shot from deep, and just like that, the Hawkeye lead was up to 10 after barely a minute of the second half had elapsed.
The Badgers wilted from there, as Iowa’s lead continued to grow. Wright, finally looking comfortable again, went supernova from beyond the arc (a much needed occurrence) while Heiden continued to dominate and received assistance from Stremlow and Houston to boot. Wisconsin, meanwhile, could barely manage to string together multiple scoring possessions, and it showed. Iowa’s lead just kept growing, getting out to a 57-36 lead with just under 2 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter.
Wisconsin couldn’t come close to a comeback, and Iowa used the 4th quarter to get more reps for the bench ahead of the postseason. It was a strong performance up and down the roster, and really gives the team good momentum heading into March, as they end the regular season on a 6-game win streak.
I don’t know about you, but I want to see this team make a run in the postseason, and I certainly think it’s possible if this team continues to play like it has in late February.