Turnovers doom Iowa vs. Seminoles
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (U of I) — Florida State scored 50 points in the second half and netted 28 points off 24 turnovers during an 83-69 win against the University of Iowa in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Wednesday in women’s basketball at the Donald L. Tucker Center.
The host Seminoles improved to 6-0 overall, Iowa is 5-3. The Hawkeyes fly home late Wednesday evening and return to Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday to play Northern Iowa (3-3).
Morgan Johnson paced four UI players in double figures by making 8-of-15 field goals and all four free throws for 20 points.Samantha Logic scored 14 points, Jaime Printy and Bethany Doolittle added 13 and 10 points. Doolittle pulled down a game-high nine rebounds; Logic handed out seven assists and grabbed seven rebounds. She was 7-of-11 from the field.
“I thought the first half we played pretty well, especially with Morgan Johnson sitting for 10 minutes,” UI head coach Lisa Bluder said. “I thought going down three at halftime (33-30) wasn’t that bad, I thought it was manageable for us to work our way out of that.”
Three days after using a big free throw advantage to upset No. 12 West Virginia, the Hawkeyes found themselves on the short end at the charity stripe against Florida State. The Seminoles made 16-of-22 free throws, Iowa made 7-of-9.
“That’s a place we usually score from and score often,” Bluder said. “We didn’t get to the free throw line.”
If free throw disadvantage wasn’t a killer for the Hawkeyes, turnovers were. Iowa lost the ball 24 times — 11 more than Florida State.
Iowa shot 49.2 percent from the field (30-of-61), but the Hawkeyes made just 2-of-11 from 3-point range. Iowa had a 42-34 edge in paint points.
A made field goal by Johnson at the 19:03 mark of the second have gave the Hawkeyes their final lead at 34-33. Johnson tied it at 40 with two made free throws with 15:49 remaining, and Doolittle made it 42-42 with a field goal with 13:52 left.
“I thought our team did a good job of attacking the gaps,” Bluder said. “We did a good job of hitting our cutters in the gaps.”
Florida State’s Leonor Rodriquez led all players with 28 points. She made 4-of-6 3-point field goals and handed out six assists.
“I’m disappointed in the 50 points we gave up in the second half,” Bluder said.
Florida State took a 33-30 lead at halftime. The statistics were similar with the exception of free throws, where the Seminoles made 5-of-9 compared to 2-of-3 shooting by Iowa. The Hawkeyes held a 22-17 edge in rebounding.
After spending a week in Florida, a travel-weary Iowa team returns to Carver-Hawkeye Arena...and Bluder is calling on the fans to give her team a boost.
“Only one day to prepare for UNI and they’re playing very well,” Bluder said. “They have had all week to prepare for us. Obviously we’ll need a great home court fan boost, because I know UNI is going to travel well and have a lot of fans there. Hopefully on Saturday afternoon we’ll have great support and help give us a little energy for this game against UNI.”
