3 takeaways from Iowa women's basketball's 73-45 win over Towson
· Yahoo Sports
IOWA CITY — The Iowa women's basketball team won its first game of the regular season to kick off the 2026-27 campaign, 73-45 over Towson on Nov. 2 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Dani Carnegie was the leading scorer for the Hawkeyes, dropping 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 3-for-10 from 3-point range, and 4-of-6 from the free-throw line.
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Chit-Chat Wright scored 14, and McKenna Woliczko had 10 with a team-leading eight rebounds.
The Hawkeyes were getting different looks than the last time we saw them play in an Oct. 29 exhibition against Maryville. That was a high-scoring game in which everybody's shots were falling. On Monday, baskets were a little harder to come by.
"It's the first game of the season and you're not going to look perfect," head coach Jan Jensen said of Iowa's performance. "And I'm working a lot of different combinations. I'm trying to get different people in at different times, so it's bound to take a little time."
Here are a few of the key takeaways from Iowa's win.
There were times when the offense was not clicking
Jensen said there were a few moments where the offense got "sticky" during the game.
"We didn't get enough reversals," Jensen said of her team's offensive execution. "You need to get the ball shifted from one side of the floor to the other."
Jensen continued, "We were a lot more tunnel vision, and we were just not patient. And this offense really works the best when you're running it with a buddy than when you're running it for yourself. That's when we get stuck."
In the first half, Iowa shot just 11-of-27 (41%) from the field and 4-of-14 (29%) from beyond the arc. While Jensen said she wasn't pleased with the shots not falling, she said she is not pressing the panic button just yet.
"Certainly we better figure it out by Thursday, because Thursday needs to look a little bit better," Jensen said of the upcoming game against Eastern Illinois. "We have a really tough non-conference schedule, but we've seen some really good moments."
Ava Heiden, who scored seven points and added seven rebounds, said that the team is still trying to learn the new offense with six newcomers. She said the Hawkeyes are getting the looks they want, even if the shots aren't always falling.
"We're still finding fluidity in the way that we're playing," Heiden said. "And we're taking great shots."
Defense performed well
Jensen said she was pleased with her team's defense performance. The Hawkeyes held Towson to 31% (19-of-61) shooting from the field, and 17% (3-of-18) from beyond the arc.
Iowa had a 52-27 rebounding advantage, six blocks and four steals. The Hawkeyes held Towson scoreless for the final 3:56 of the game.
"I was really pleased with our defensive side," Jensen said. "And I feel like we've got a lot of good things going, a lot of different combinations."
A monster fourth-quarter performance for the Hawkeyes
Iowa finished strong, outscoring Towson 21-8 in the final 10 minutes. Carnegie had 10 points in the final quarter, heating up with 3-of-4 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 shooting from 3-point range, and making both her free throw attempts.
Layla Hays chipped in four points in the fourth quarter as the Hawkeyes finished the game on a 12-2 run.
Carnegie, a first-team All-SEC pick last season at Georgia, was 2-for-7 from the field in the first half, including 0-for-5 from the 3-point arc. Jensen said she is "still learning" about the transfer guard, so there is a bit of a give-and-take when the shots aren't falling.
"The short answer is you've got to let a shooter shoot," Jensen said of Carnegie. "But we also can't lose it so much that it's too much of a focus to get her out of a slump that the offense doesn't roll. We need to hit that happy medium."
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: 3 takeaways from Iowa women's basketball's 73-45 win over Towson