For the third time in the last four games, the Illinois offense failed to reach 60 points, leading to its sixth consecutive loss.

The Illinois (9-15, 2-9 Big Ten) women’s basketball team lost 69-55 to Iowa (20-6, 8-4) for the team’s 10th loss in the last 12 games.  

The Hawkeyes offense is run by junior guard Samantha Logic and she didn’t disappoint Thursday night. Logic, who has averaged over 14 points, seven rebounds and eight assists per game in Big Ten play, finished with a balanced attack of nine points, seven rebounds and six assists.

“We didn’t do a good job of pressuring Logic, she was way too comfortable out there,” head coach Matt Bollant said. “I thought we played really hard defensively in the first half. In the second half, we just needed a few more stops to give us a chance to get back into the game.”

In another game without forward Jacqui Grant, the Illini were vulnerable inside and Hawkeyes center Bethany Doolittle commanded a double team on almost every touch inside. The 6-foot-4 junior ended up with 16 points and seven rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting.

Iowa pushed its advantage inside to dominate the glass. The Hawkeyes ended with 15 offensive rebounds and owned the final rebounding advantage 40-23. Ally Disterhoft notched a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

While the Illini held the Hawkeyes to 37 percent shooting in the first half, Illinois couldn’t take advantage as the team shot just 29.2 percent from the field in the opening half and put only 20 points on the board.

Ivory Crawford picked up three first-half fouls and ended with only five points.  The junior played limited minutes and had five turnovers for the game.

Illinois got some unexpected production offensively. After not playing at all for two consecutive games, Taylor Tuck scored nine points.

Another bright spot for the Illini was freshman guard Ashley McConnell. After starting out the season 0-of-16 from the field – 0-of-14 from three – McConnell drained three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 13 points. The freshman scored her first career points against Michigan State on Feb. 5, and set a career high on Thursday.

“I thought Ashley played her best game of the year offensively,” Bollant said. “I thought Taylor Tuck gave us a lift. But we need to have more than two and we just didn’t get enough players playing well tonight.”

Despite shooting a scorching 8-of-16 from three, it was turnovers that plagued the Illinois offense. The Illini turned the ball over 21 times. While Illinois normally commands a plus-6 turnover advantage, the Hawkeyes were able to win the turnover battle by two.

A contributing factor to the loss was the points off of those turnovers. Iowa turned 21 turnovers into 22 points while Illinois converted 19 turnovers into just seven points.

“In the first half when we did get some steals, and get some turnovers, we didn’t capitalize,” Bollant said. “We weren’t aggressive attacking the rim after the steals.”

Stephen can be reached at [email protected] and @steve_bourbon.