In the women’s basketball NCAA Tournament, the top-seeded Iowa Hawkeyes are returning to the Sweet 16, but defeating the eighth-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers was not an easy feat.
The Hawkeyes overcame the Mountaineers 64–54, but they had to come up with an unexpected strategy to win.
Despite having a poor start, Iowa managed to end the first quarter up 20–15 despite trailing 11–5 early.
Nevertheless, Iowa led at the break 26–24 after a fairly low-scoring second quarter from both sides.
Although the schedule made this game seem like a blowout prospect, the Mountaineers proved to be a tough opponent in the second half, even though the Hawkeyes prevailed. With a 48-38 lead at the end of the third quarter, it appeared as though Iowa was done playing games. However, Jayla Hemingway’s three-pointer with just 5:18 remaining in the fourth quarter placed an exclamation point on a 10-0 run that had knotted the game.
