Buzzer Beating Three Downs Hawkeyes

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Jan. 13, 2011

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BY Richie Zawistowski

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The University Iowa women’s basketball team came this close to knocking off No. 9 Michigan State Thursday night at the Breslin Center.

No. 20 Iowa used an 8-0 run capped by a Kamille Wahlin three-pointer in the closing moments to tie the score at 60. Michigan State’s Kalisha Keane then knocked down a contested long ball with five tenths of a second remaining to give the Spartans the 63-60 victory.

“That was a tough shot, but they both hit tough shots,” said UI head coach Lisa Bluder. “They’re both good at them. Kamille came off a screen on the bottom and was able to get the shot, and Keane got the flair screen after the ball screen, and I thought we were there. I thought we had a hand in her face and she put down a nice shot.”

The Hawkeye backcourt scored 40 of Iowa’s 60 points, as Jaime Printy led all scorers with 23 points. Wahlin finished with 17 points, while also dishing out four assists.

“I thought Jaime Printy and Kamille Wahlin played a great game today,” said Bluder. “I know we can play better, and that gives us hope knowing that we can play better and we will the next time.”

Wahlin came up big in the clutch knocking down the three-pointer with just 10 seconds remaining to even the tally at 60. The long ball capped an 8-0 run by Iowa in the final minute of the game.

“I’m proud of the effort of our players,” said Bluder, whose Hawkeyes fall to 14-4 overall and 2-3 in the Big Ten. “You’re down on the road and still able to battle back and tie it up, I thought that was great composure by our players.

“I feel like we had an opportunity though. We took 17 less shots than they did. And anytime you’re going to give someone 17 extra shots it’s going to be hard to win a game. They killed us on the offensive boards, they did a fabulous job getting second-chance points, and had a lot less turnovers, so that’s how they had the 17 more shots.”

Both teams shot 40 percent from the field, but the Spartans were 27-of-67, while Iowa went 20-of-50. The Hawkeyes turned the ball over 15 times compared to seven for Michigan State, and Iowa was out-rebounded by MSU, 33-29.

Michigan State jumped out to a 5-0 lead early before Iowa came back to take a 12-9 lead on three Printy free throws with 13 minutes remaining. The teams battled back-and-forth for the remainder of the first half before MSU took a 30-28 lead into the break.

Coming out of the locker room, Iowa got an easy basket by Kelly Krei off an inbounds pass under the basket to tie the game at 30 just 20 seconds in.

Printy then scored five of Iowa’s next six points, pulling up in transition to hit a three-pointer, and then took the ball strong to the basket, laying it in to her squad to within a field goal (38-36) with 15:18 remaining.

Not to be out-done by her teammate, Wahlin scored the next eight points for the Hawkeyes to knot the game at 44 with 12:14 to play. Michigan State responded, however, using a 13-4 run over the next eight minutes to jump out to a 57-48 lead.

Morgan Johnson and Wahlin answered for Iowa with a layup and a pull-up jumper from the elbow to bring Iowa to within five at 57-52 with 2:59 remaining.

After a Spartan three-point play the old fashioned way, Krei hit a trey to bring the Iowa deficit back to five. Iowa’s defense then held on the following possession, forcing a MSU shot clock violation.

Kachine Alexander drove the ball hard to her right drawing the foul and stopping the clock, but her shot rimmed out. Alexander, however, calmly sank both of her free throws, making the score 60-57 with 30 seconds remaining.

After an Iowa foul, Michigan State missed the front end of its one-and-one, keeping the Hawkeye deficit at three, and Iowa capitalized. Coming out of a timeout, Alexander found Wahlin coming off a baseline pick, and Wahlin drilled the long ball with 10 seconds remaining. But Michigan State responded with the dagger for the last second victory.

The Hawkeyes (14-4, 2-3) will return to action on Sunday afternoon, hosting Indiana at 1 p.m.