Hawkeyes Prepare For First-Place Battle With Maryland

Iowa has won the last three games against the Terrapins.

It’s not a championship game, Lisa Bluder said.

But when Iowa plays at Maryland on Thursday night, mathematically it will feel that way to the winner.

The 17th-ranked Hawkeyes and 10th-ranked Terrapins are tied for the Big Ten lead at 10-2.

If Maryland wins, the Terrapins will have a one-game lead over the Hawkeyes with four games to play.

But if Iowa wins, it will feel like a two-game lead, since the Hawkeyes would own the tiebreaker with the Terrapins with two victories this season, and would also have the tiebreaker with Northwestern, the other two-loss team that is a half-game behind.

Bluder, the Iowa coach, says a victory would be “monumental,” and she’s right.

Asked about the opportunity ahead for the Hawkeyes, guard Makenzie Meyer said, “I think it’s cool.”

But Meyer tempered the talk of the importance of the game.

“I think it’s just important going into the game viewing it as another Big Ten game,” Meyer said.

Of course, it’s not just another game.

“It’s what you work for all season — to play in big games and big moments,” guard Kathleen Doyle said. “You’ve got to just play and have fun with it.”

Maryland has won four of the last five regular-season titles since joining the Big Ten, but if anyone has challenged them, it’s been the Hawkeyes. Iowa has won the last three games in the series — winning in the regular season and in the Big Ten Tournament championship game last season, and taking a 66-61 win at home on Jan. 9.

“It’s given us the mentality that we can play with anybody,” Bluder said. “It gives you that confidence that we can play with anybody, and that’s huge.”

Iowa survived the last time these teams played. The Hawkeyes were outrebounded 59-35 — Maryland had 38 offensive rebounds — and the two teams combined for 45 turnovers.

“It was ugly,” Doyle said, “and the statistics were really weird.”

It can’t be that way on Thursday night, considering the Terrapins have lost at home just once this season. Bluder said it has to be a “near-perfect game” for the Hawkeyes.

“We have to be ready for full intensity,” Bluder said.

The Hawkeyes weren’t considered to be a Big Ten contender at the beginning of the season, having lost national player of the year Megan Gustafson along with two other senior starters, Tania Davis and Hannah Stewart.

But Doyle is having a season that could win her Big Ten player of the year honors — 18.7 points and 6.5 assists. Center Monika Czinano is averaging 15.3 points after serving as Gustafson’s understudy last season. Meyer is averaging 14.8 points.

Iowa finished one game behind the Terrapins last season. Here the Hawkeyes are again, battling for a title in mid-February.

“The season gets going, and sometimes you lose track of what’s happened, what’s going on,” Bluder said. “You just kind of focus on the next game. But looking back, in hindsight, I’m really proud of our team to even be talking about this. Five games left in the conference schedule, and we’re talking about playing for a Big Ten championship? I think if you would have said that in August, that this would be happening, you would be thrilled. And we have to remember that, to be thrilled right now.”