No. 6 Iowa women’s basketball coughs up late lead in loss at Kansas State

A chaotic ultimate sequence caught the No. 6 Iowa ladies’s basketball crew with a bitter loss Thursday evening at Kansas State.

The Hawkeyes coughed up a five-point lead over the ultimate 4 minutes, permitting the Wildcats to sink a game-winning free throw within the ultimate seconds in an 84-83 loss at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.

4 seesawing quarters gave option to an ending stuffed with drama. With the rating tied, Kansas State’s Gabby Gregory drove to the basket and drew a foul with 4.7 seconds left. Iowa’s Kate Martin bought caught backpedaling within the paint to provide a whistle. Gregory sunk the primary and missed the second, permitting Iowa to rebound and name a timeout with three seconds left.

Iowa star Caitlin Clark stumbled and rolled her ankle on the in-bounds, however she managed to get the ball to McKenna Warnock because the seconds ticked away. Warnock discovered Monika Czinano, who was hacked underneath the ring however not earlier than the horn sounded.

A assessment ensued. Clark needed to be helped to the bench. Kansas State jubilation took it from there.

Iowa had a 78-73 benefit with 3½ minutes to go. Even after Kansas State erased that lead in lower than 30 seconds, Clark drained a deep trey that seemingly restored Iowa order. The Hawkeyes, although, had simply two extra factors from there.

Clark completed with 27 factors on 6-for-17 capturing, buoyed by a 13-for-16 exhibiting on the line. Czinano added 18, however had simply 4 during the last seven minutes. Gregory led the Kansas State trigger with 24 factors and bought one other 24 from Serena Sundell. Sarah Shematsi added 18 on six treys.

The Hawkeyes appeared able to seize management late within the second quarter, leaping out to a 40-28 benefit with 3:53 till the break. However the Wildcats refused to let Iowa take that momentum into the half, ripping off a 10-0 surge that pulled Kansas State again inside a bucket.

The back-and-forth motion continued, with Iowa solely sporadically leaping out to multi-possession leads earlier than Kansas State answered again. Even with out having to take care of Wildcats star Ayoka Lee — a second-team all-American final 12 months who underwent season-ending knee surgical procedure in August — the Hawkeyes couldn’t shake pesky Kansas State.  

The trek to Kansas was already a particular second lengthy earlier than the ultimate horn sounded. Iowa used the journey to meet up with Ava Jones, Iowa’s newest signee who’s recovering after being hit by a car in July.

Jones’ hometown of Nickerson is about 140 miles south of Bramlage Coliseum, which allowed her to be round her future crew and attend Thursday’s recreation. Kansas State joined Iowa in carrying “Kansas State believes in Ava Jones” shirts throughout warmups.

Bluder believes in her crew as effectively. Iowa faces a treacherous non-conference schedule full of future NCAA Match individuals. This five-day stretch that features two difficult however winnable highway checks isn’t even probably the most troublesome stretch of it.

After internet hosting Belmont on Sunday, the Hawkeyes head to the Phil Knight Legacy Match in Portland for video games in opposition to Oregon State (Nov. 25) and both Duke or Connecticut (Nov. 27). Two top-10 residence video games come after that to start out subsequent month: Dec. 1 vs. No. 7 North Carolina State and Dec. 7 vs. No. 8 Iowa State.

The Hawkeyes don’t have to digest that abruptly, however stumbling Thursday provides extra concern contemplating what’s up forward.     

Dargan Southard is a sports activities trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. E mail him at msouthard@gannett.com or observe him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.