WEST LAFAYETTE – Purdue women’s basketball couldn’t stop Iowa sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow in the first half.
Dead energy in Mackey Arena and Purdue was down by 26 points.
The defensive front Purdue offered had little effect on Stremlow’s comfort level shooting.
Purdue withstood the early lashing to trim the deficit to 61-50 with 2:33 in the third.
Purdue couldn’t complete the comeback (12-14, 4-11 Big Ten Conference) in an 83-74 loss to Iowa, but there was resilience shown by the Boilermakers against the No. 13-ranked team in the country.
Junior guard Nya Smith drilled a 3-pointer with 8:41 to play and forced the deficit to 10 points before an upper body injury to junior guard Tara Daye with 7:29 in the fourth quarter forced her to the sideline.
Junior guard Kiki Smith trimmed the deficit to eight points with 10.9 seconds in the fourth quarter.
It was the first half defensive lull that cost the Boilermakers.
Purdue couldn’t distort Stremlow’s rhythm, who finished with 19 points all in the first half. Forward Ava Heiden finished with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Guard Kylie Feuerbach added 10 points and guard Journey Houston scored 16 points for the Hawkeyes.
Purdue is already undermanned after senior guard Madison Layden-Zay dislocated her knee against Rutgers last Saturday.
The Boilermakers haven’t beaten Iowa (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten Conference) since Jan. 10, 2019, and lost 10 straight after Thursday.
Smith finished with 17 points and five assists, Daye added 15 points, guard Kiki Smith scored 17 points and forward Kendall Puryear scored 12 points on 6-of-7 shooting and Purdue forced 19 turnovers.
Purdue, with the loss, is 14th in the Big Ten Conference with two games to play and needs to be one of the top 15 teams to reach its conference tournament.
The Boilermakers host Oregon on Wednesday at 7 p.m. before concluding the regular season at Northwestern on Sunday, March 1.
Ethan Hanson is the sports reporter for the Journal & Courier in Lafayette. He can be reached at ehanson@jconline.com, on Twitter at EthanAHanson and Instagram at ethan_a_hanson.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Purdue women’s basketball nearly rallies from 26 points against No. 13 ranked Iowa