With just over three minutes to play in regulation, No. 15 Maryland women’s basketball trailed No. 10 Iowa by 17 points. The Terps looked destined for consecutive ranked losses in blowout fashion. 

Despite the seemingly insurmountable deficit, Maryland scored 24 points in the final three minutes, capped off by an Oluchi Okananwa three-pointer to send the game to overtime. 

But the Terps’ valiant effort ultimately came up short in extra time. Without Yarden Garzon and Okananwa in overtime, Maryland failed to make up for their early exits, falling to Iowa 85-78 at Xfinity Center. 

“It’s a small margin of error for us and we see that with the lack of depth we now have,” said head coach Brenda Frese. “Players have to be on the floor, we can’t get into foul trouble.” 

Okananwa, Addi Mack and Saylor Poffenbarger entered Thursday’s contest as some of the Terps most consistent scorers of the season. However, that trio struggled early on — being held scoreless for the entirety of the first half.

Iowa took advantage of their poor offensive outing immediately, holding the lead for most of the game.

Ava Heiden dominated the Terps as she had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Hawkeyes. Hannah Stueleke added 11 rebounds of her own to help keep the rebounding battle close.

Despite the defeat, Izzy Ozzy-Momodu fought to keep Maryland alive, recording a career-high 18 points and 12 rebounds. Off the bench, Kyndal Walker also had a career-high 15 points and made pivotal plays during that final minute to force overtime. 

Iowa started strong. They maintained a strong pace for most of the first half. Whenever the Terps fought back, the Hawkeyes would push the lead back up further, leading 33-27 at halftime. 

Maryland’s struggles in the first could be attributed to both foul trouble and three-point shooting. Major players like Okananwa did not get much playing time due to fouls and the team shot an abysmal 12.5% from beyond the arc.  

The pacing of the third quarter was the same. Both sides traded offensive surges to keep pace. At the end, the Hawkeyes still held the lead, despite their advantage being trimmed.

Early in the fourth quarter, Iowa dominated, getting a 17-point lead at one point, forcing the Terps to have to play catch-up. It looked grim, especially when Garzon left the game after fouling out, but Maryland proved it was not impossible.

With thirty seconds left, Addi Mack made a layup to cut the Iowa lead down to five. The following play, Walker stole the ball and added another two. Off of the Iowa inbound, Poffenbarger came up with a steal, which ended with a pair of Okananwa free throws and Maryland only trailing by one.

Iowa was forced to the free-throw line, where they made both to bring their lead back to three. With only nine seconds left the ball hit Okananwa’s hands. She nailed it, sending the game to overtime. 

“When you show up and you play hard and you have a motor, you can always make things happen,” Frese said. “That is the thing with Oluchi, she’s a competitor and a fighter and a winner.” 

Okananwa quickly fouled out in overtime, ending the Terps’ comeback bid, as the Hawkeyes outscored the Terps 12-6 in the final period. 

“It’s a tough game to lose,” Walker said. “With every win and loss, I call it wisdom and lessons, so we got lessons from this loss that we’re gonna take into the next game and the next nine games that we have heading into the tournament.”

This marks the first time this season the Terps have lost back-to-back games. 

Maryland now looks ahead to another ranked opponent in No. 25 Washington next Wednesday as it tries to end the skid.