Iowa women's basketball: Fourth-quarter push propels No. 20 Hawkeyes past Purdue

Despite what happens down the final stretch, Iowa feels confident it will control winning time. The Hawkeyes did so once again to land a nice road win.

Purdue made a push to climb within two early in the fourth quarter, only to see No. 20 Iowa run away with Sunday’s affair, 83-71, at Mackey Arena. It was a nice road rebound for the Hawkeyes (20-4, 11-2 Big Ten Conference), who fell flat in their last game away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Owning a narrow 64-62 lead with 8:40 to play, Iowa answered with a methodical 16-2 run to put things away. Kathleen Doyle punctuated the surge with eight consecutive points — two free throws and two treys — for an 80-64 cushion with just under two minutes left.

Nearly 80% of Iowa’s scoring came from three players — Doyle, Makenzie Meyer and Monika Czinano. Doyle and Meyer each went for 22 and got 20 from Czinano, who missed just one shot on 11 attempts. Doyle and Meyer anchored the parting push, while Meyer controlled the third. She had 12 points in that quarter en route to Iowa’s first double-digit lead of the day.

Iowa’s defense answered the bell as well. Purdue (15-10, 6-7) went nearly eight minutes between field goals in the fourth. No one other than Kayana Traylor (21 points) had a significant outing.

This win won’t pop on the resume or anything like that, but conference road wins still shouldn’t be taken lightly. Purdue was still a projected NCAA Tournament team as of this week.

Iowa also stays pace atop the conference with Maryland, which toppled Rutgers by 29 moments before the Hawkeyes tipped. That sets up a huge showdown Thursday at XFINITY Center, as Iowa looks for another road conquest against the Terrapins.

Dargan Southard covers Iowa and UNI athletics, recruiting and preps for the Des Moines Register, HawkCentral.com and the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.