At the point when Iowa forward Megan Gustafson backed down Maryland women’s basketball forward Brianna Fraser at the edge of the paint with barely four minutes left Sunday, the Terps’ lone senior was required her fifth and last foul.

Fraser had set up her elbows, yet the little contact that occurred Gustafson started, and Fraser tossed her hands in the air in frustration. Maryland was called for 15 a greater number of fouls than the Hawkeyes, and with a 29-8 free toss dissimilarity, mentor Brenda Frese’s group regularly wound up on the losing end of a few 50-50 calls.

The now No. 8 Terps battled to flip a 10-point second-half shortage into a one-point lead in the last frame, however the foul awkwardness demonstrated excessively to defeat as No. 10 Iowa gave them a 86-73 misfortune to end their eight-diversion winning streak.

“We fought through a lot of foul trouble,” Frese said. “We’ve got to figure out a way to get to the free throw line 29 times, because when you only get eight free-throw attempts, that’s a big difference in this game.”

In the initial 20 minutes, Maryland really endeavored two more free tosses than the Hawkeyes while holding Gustafson — the leading scorer in Division I — to only seven on 3-of-7 shooting.

In any case, keeping Gustafson uat bay early came at a cost: foul trouble.

Forward Shakira Austin — as of late named to the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list — got two fouls as Gustafson’s essential protector. Fraser likewise had a couple of fouls, and with the Terps’ main two frontcourt players attempting to remain on the floor, Gustafson began to exploit.

“We could barely stop the bleeding in the first half with the foul trouble,” Frese said. “[Gustafson] never stops working. … She’s just a matchup nightmare.”

Austin promptly got a third foul on Iowa’s first ownership of the second half, and Maryland had no cautious answer as a revolving door of post safeguards attempted to back off Gustafson.

Gustafson missed the first free toss after Austin fouled her, however the senior would proceed to make her next 10 from the stripe on the way to 24 second-half points.

“We were trying to bring a lot of players in through the foul trouble,” Frese said. “I thought they were aggressive. I thought they were physical.”

Indeed, even through foul trouble and Iowa’s free points at the line, Maryland never stopped contending. After a 9-0 run to start the last quarter, the Terps quickly held a 59-58 lead with under eight minutes remaining.

“It wasn’t our normal flow of players in the game, and they never use that as an excuse,” Frese said. “They just kept fighting and put their heads down.”

Be that as it may, regardless of the proceeded with exertion, Maryland in the end surrendered the battle. Fraser fouled out halfway through the fourth time frame, and Iowa completed the amusement with a pertinent seven continuous makes from the line to cap off a 9-0 blitz of its own and end the Terps’ winning streak.

With the success, the Hawkeyes moved into a tie with Maryland for the first place in the Big Ten — yet the Terps barely appeared to be shaken. With the conference tournament in around about fourteen days, Maryland is anticipating an opportunity for revenge in a potential meeting with Iowa in the Big Ten title.

“We know we’re going to see them again, possibly in the tournament,” forward Stephanie Jones said. “So, just looking forward to our next game and being able to get back in the gym and work and learn from this.”