Iowa Hawkeyes Women’s Basketball Shows Potential In Loss

A look at how Iowa women’s basketball almost upset Notre Dame

Heading into December, the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team is 5-3. They lost to an underrated South Dakota State team by two at home and then lost to the ninth-ranked UCLA Bruins by 13 in the Cancun Challenge.

On Tuesday night, Iowa hosted the top-ranked Notre Dame Fighting Irish as part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Irish came in with a perfect 6-0 record, including a win over a ranked Washington squad. Plus, ESPN has hyped up a potential 1v2 matchup between Notre Dame and Connecticut next week.

Nonetheless, in front of 3,809 people, just 25 percent of Carver Hawkeyes Arena, the Hawkeyes almost handed Notre Dame just their third non top-five regular season loss since 2011-12. Notre Dame pulled away at the end and won 73-58, but Iowa played them a lot closer than the score indicates.

Led by Ally Disterhoft‘s 18 points and Megan Gustafson‘s 16 points and 11 rebounds, the Hawkeyes only trailed by eight at the end of the third quarter before a nine-point fourth quarter haunted them.

Still, being down eight after three quarters doesn’t tell the full story. A young Iowa team, which is budding with potential, stuck to their game plan and almost came out on top.

Lisa Bluder continued to try to develop depth by playing 11 players and giving all …

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