View From The Top: Hawkeyes Stop Hoosiers In Double Overtime

Eight days, three wins, two over top-25 teams.

Oh, and now in a tie for first place in the Big Ten women’s basketball standings.

How did that sound to Lisa Bluder?

“Good to me,” the Iowa women's basketball coach said after Sunday’s 91-85 double-overtime win over No. 12 Indiana at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. “Yeah, you certainly want (to be in first place) at the end of the year.

“But we’ll take it any time.”

The Hawkeyes (13-3 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) got a road win over Northwestern last Sunday, defeated No. 16/17 Maryland on Thursday night, then pulled away in the second overtime to down the Hoosiers (14-3, 4-1), who came into this game all alone in the Big Ten lead.

Now the top spot is shared by Iowa, Indiana, Rutgers and Northwestern.

“It was a good week-and-a-half,” Bluder said. “It was. It was a great week.”

The Hawkeyes have been knocking on the door at the bottom of the national polls in recent weeks, and this win should be the final push to get them into the top 25.

“I think we are (a top-25 team),” Bluder said as guard Kathleen Doyle affirmed with a nod as she sat next to her coach in the post-game press conference. “We just beat two top-25s. I mean, I’m probably biased. It’s like, ‘Do you love your own kid?’ Well, yeah.

“Why not? Why not us?”

It was the 30th consecutive home win for the Hawkeyes, the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division I play. It just took a little longer than the others.

Doyle missed a chance to give Iowa a lead in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, when she missed a free throw after her game-tying layup with four seconds to play.

But she and Makenzie Meyer, the two senior guards who have seen so much in their careers, took over in the second overtime, scoring 13 of the Hawkeyes’ 14 points..

Doyle nearly had a triple-double, finishing with 31 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Meyer had 17 — her first 3-pointer of the game gave Iowa a 72-71 lead with 1:18 to play in the fourth quarter, and her second three put Iowa up, 83-80, with 2:52 left in the second overtime.

The Hawkeyes trailed by as much as 14 points in the first half, and were down 69-63 with 3:23 to play in the fourth quarter.

Kathleen Doyle scored 31 points to help lead @IowaWBB to a 91-85 double-overtime win over Indiana. pic.twitter.com/x3SgLTp2qu
— Iowa On BTN (@IowaOnBTN) January 13, 2020

“This is probably one of the top-three wins I’ve had at Carver,” Meyer said.

She quickly changed her mind.

“Top two,” Meyer said, saying only last season’s win over Missouri in the second round of the NCAA tournament topped it.

Bluder was surrounded by Meyer, Doyle and freshman McKenna Warnock, who had 11 points.

“These women up here were amazing,” Bluder said. “They kept believing, kept the faith.”

That was especially important for Doyle, who overcame that free-throw miss to hit two crucial ones in the second overtime that put Iowa up, 89-84.

“My teammates did a good job of pulling me out of that and pushing me forward into overtime,” Doyle said.

Bluder jokingly said she wanted a review of the video to see if they could find one more rebound for Doyle.

“Those are amazing numbers,” Bluder said.

Meyer, who leads the Hawkeyes in 3-point goals, had trouble finding any open looks. Both of her threes came from the right corner — her favorite spot, she said.

“Right when the ball left my hand, I knew it was in,” Meyer said. “It is tough sometimes to get into a rhythm when you don’t get a lot of opportunities at the three. But I’m confident in that shot.”

Monika Czinano added 23 points for Iowa before fouling out.

Iowa plays four of its next six games on the road, and the season isn’t even to the midpoint yet.

“There is a lot of basketball left to play,” Bluder said. “We know that.”

For now, the Hawkeyes have a view at the top of the conference.

“Yeah,” Bluder said. “we like it.”