Pushing the tempo and finishing at an improved clip, the Virginia women’s basketball team competed early with Iowa Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. Less than a minute into the second quarter, sophomore point guard Mikayla Venson sized up her defender and drained a deep three to level the score at 21.
An ensuing 14-6 Hawkeye run behind perimeter jump shots and uncontested layups gave the team in black and gold a 35-27 lead. Cavalier coach Joanne Boyle called a timeout to stop the bleeding, but a spread-out Iowa offense continued to light up Virginia (5-3, 0-0 ACC) behind the arc and pile up weak-side rebounds once play resumed.
Through two quarters, the No. 24 Hawkeyes (7-1, 0-0 Big 10) shot 50 percent from the floor, including 6-for-13 from three. Thankfully for Virginia, Venson and senior guard Faith Randolph combined for 21 points on 50 percent shooting and limited the deficit to 40-35 at the break. At that point, the game felt well within reach.
Iowa coach Lisa Bluder, seeking her 667th career win and 311th at Iowa, paced into the tunnel with a stern expression on her face. Bluder’s Hawkeyes responded in the third quarter, extending their lead to a comfortable 18 points.
“They really spread the floor, and honestly that’s one of our weak spots, you know four-out one-in,” Boyle said. “We got exposed on dribble penetration. I think when [they] started scoring a lot in the third quarter, we ended up having to call some sets, and that’s not our strength.”
Virginia followed up arguably its best two quarters this season in terms of knocking down shots — 55 percent and 5-for-9 from three — by making only five buckets on 17 attempts in the period, while Iowa scored 23 points off simple cuts and ball screens.
The Cavaliers showed a little bit of life around the midway point of the fourth quarter after layups by junior guard Breyana Mason and sophomore forward Lauren Moses cut the gap to 11 with less than 5 minutes left. Virginia turned up the defensive pressure, but Iowa stayed composed offensively and sank free throws.
“Well, the point guard was definitely making their press break go,” Venson said. “We were trying to stop her, but she was just catching it and going. It was pretty hard to stop that, and we’re in foul trouble. We can’t really be aggressive with that.”
A disparity from the charity stripe hurt Virginia all night as the Hawkeyes made 15-21 attempts compared to the Cavalier mark of 9-13, which was bolstered considerably in garbage time.
“We could have been more aggressive, and just in our half-court set could have continued to attack,” Venson said. “They weren’t great at [handling] ball screens, and their post players weren’t so fast. … We definitely could have attacked more and gotten to the free throw line more in the first half.”
The Iowa offense frustrated Randolph, Moses and sophomore guard Aliyah Huland El, sending each to the bench with five personal fouls.
“Lauren [Moses] has done a great job anchoring us, and so when she is out of the game it’s tough,” Boyle said. “We just have to have a conversation. I know she is trying to play physical and strong, but somehow she’s got to try and stay in the game more.”
Despite a career-high 28-point performance on 9-of-18 shooting from Venson and 28 points from the Virginia offense during the fourth quarter, Iowa coasted to its seventh win of the season, 85-73.
“We didn’t have flow,” Boyle said. “I think it was really stagnant in that one quarter. It was very rigid, and you know I think basketball is a game; it's both ends of the floor. … We’ve been playing so many games. We just need a time to get a little bit of practice in.”
The Cavaliers have two days to prepare for what ought to be a lighter contest versus New Jersey Institute of Technology (2-4, 0-0 A-Sun).
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