Playing on the road at Carver-Hawkeye Arena is not an easy task for any team, but the Oregon Ducks (14-5, 2-4 Big Ten) came to Iowa City with an attitude and battled against the No. 11 Iowa Hawkeyes (15-2, 6-0 Big Ten) in a 74-66 loss.

Whether it was from deep or from right at the rim, nothing fell for the Ducks in the first quarter. They opened the game 2-10 from the field, with six of those shots being threes, going 1-6 from deep. Iowa’s offense was about as inefficient to start the contest, going 3-10 in their first ten shots in the first quarter. 

From the start of the game, guard Katie Fiso (9 points, 4/16 shooting, 4 turnovers) controlled the Ducks’ offense, but they couldn’t score efficiently and seemed to be forcing three-point shots. The team shot 3/9 from the three and 4/15 from the field in the first quarter.

The first quarter showed the Ducks could not hang with Iowa on the defensive end, allowing eight baskets to their four. Oregon was also behind on rebounding in the first quarter, losing the battle 9-12.

The Hawkeyes moved the ball well against the Ducks, which allowed them to attack the rim with ease. Oregon did get a few stops by forcing outside jumpshots, but it only managed four steals in the first half.

The Ducks’ offense was inefficient in the first half, going 12/31 from the field. The only bright spots for the team were senior forward Amina Muhammed (8 points, 4/4 shooting, 2 steals), who scored six points on 3-3 shooting, and junior guard Sofia Bell, who scored nine points on 3-5 shooting from the three-point line, but didn’t score in the second half.

Oregon closed the gap heading into halftime down 31-36, but the game started trending in the Ducks’ direction after they outscored Iowa 19-18 in the second quarter. The main reason Oregon was stuck behind the Hawkeyes was the points in the paint, where it only scored eight to Iowa’s 20.

Addie Deal (18 points, 7/9 shooting) and Hannah Stuelke (18 points, 7/12 shooting, 8 assists, 8 rebounds, 2 steals) led the Hawkeyes’ offense heading into halftime, scoring 10 and seven points, respectively. The pair also shot efficiently; 7/9 from the field, combined. Oregon needed to stop them from getting in rhythm in the second half if they wanted to win.

The Ducks would fail to do so and allowed Deal and Stuelke to combine for 11 points in the third quarter on 5-7 shooting.

Oregon opened up the second half fighting, but continued to struggle with inefficiency,  shooting 5-15 coming out of the break. Oregon also continued to let Iowa’s offense run through them, allowing them to shoot 8-15 in the third quarter.

The Ducks came out in the fourth quarter in man-to-man defense after its zone defense failed to contain the Hawkeyes in the third. Iowa pulled away with the game after outscoring the Ducks 24-13 in the third quarter.

The Ducks poor defense continued heading into the fourth, but picked up solid momentum towards the end of the game. It wouldn’t be enough to close out the game and Oregon would lose 74-66. 

Forward Ehis Etute was instrumental on the boards, leading the team with eight rebounds. The Hawkeyes outrebounded the Ducks 38-32, and a big contributor for Iowa was Stuelke, who had eight rebounds in a near triple-double performance.

Fiso finished the game shooting 4-16 (25%) from the field, her worst shooting performance of the season. Mia Jacobs went 0-4 with her only point coming off one of her two free throw attempts. Jacobs’ last time scoring zero field goals came during her freshman year at La Salle University when she only logged 11 minutes.

The Ducks will close their road trip with a matchup against Wisconsin on Sunday at 1 p.m. PST.