Big Ten Women’s Weekend Recap - 12/6/17

Much like the men’s side, the women in the Big Ten had a hard time in the 11th annual Big Ten / ACC Women’s Basketball Challenge last week finishing with a 4-10 record against the ACC.

Wisconsin, Maryland, Rutgers and Penn State were the lone Big Ten schools to come home with victories, while Iowa and Minnesota each dropped its first games of the season.

In the only two ranked matchups, the ACC came out on top, including No. 3 Notre Dame’s blowout win against No. 22 Michigan, 83-63, in Ann Arbor, Mich., and No. 14 Duke took down No. 8 Ohio State, 69-60.

Iowa’s first loss of the season came in a thriller between undefeated teams on its home court against No. 13 Florida State. The Hawkeyes led the Seminoles by 12 points at one point in the fourth quarter before Florida State came back to win by one, 94-93. Shakayla Wright and Imani Wright combined for 59 points with 33 and 26, respectively.

The Buckeyes trailed by 17 points in the fourth quarter but found a way to tie the game with 9:15 left to play, but Duke’s defense was able to hold Ohio State to just three points and the Blue Devils walked away with the nine-point victory. Ohio State bounced back from the loss with an 83-70 win against Maine led by a big double-double from Stephanie Mavunga, who posted 26 points and 16 rebounds in 26 minutes of action.

Michigan rebounded from the loss with a pair of wins over the weekend LIU-Brooklyn and Detroit Mercy thanks in part to 21.0 points per game over that two-game span from Katelynn Flaherty, including a 26-point effort against UDM.

For the third time in five weeks, and the second consecutive week, Iowa’s Megan Gustafson goes home with Big Ten Player of the Week. In Iowa’s first loss of the season to No. 13 Florida State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Gustafson posted 34 points with nine rebounds and two blocks before posting a double-double against Samford on Sunday with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Maryland’s Kaila Charles joined Rutgers’ Tyler Scaife and Wisconsin’s Marsha Howard on the Big Ten Women’s Weekly Honor Roll. Charles and the Terrapins took down Virginia and Akron last week, and averaged 18.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in the process. Scaife led the Scarlet Knights past N.C. State in their Big Ten/ACC Challenge game with a career-high 27 points, while Howard averaged 13.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in Wisconsin’s Challenge win at Pittsburgh and a home win against La Salle.

Nebraska freshman Kate Cain earned her second Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors with her efforts in the Cornhuskers’ two games last week. She posted 11 points, eight rebounds, and six blocks — the most by a Nebraska freshman since 1979 — in Nebraska’s loss in the Challenge to Clemson. She also recorded a double-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks against Arkansas-Pine Blue. She also won the award on Nov. 13.