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As a No. 3 seed in the Big Ten tournament, the Hawkeyes put together a remarkable run to the championship game against top-seeded and 10th-ranked Ohio State.

After leading for most of the contest — as well as holding a 16-point advantage at one point in the second half — Iowa just couldn’t hold on, falling 66-64 to the Buckeyes.

The turning point of the game came when Ohio State had possession of the ball with 26 seconds left. While both squads were tied, 64-64, with 1.9 seconds left, the referees called a foul on freshman Trisha Nesbitt. It allowed reigning Big Ten Player of the Year and junior Jantel Lavender to reach the free-throw line. Her two freebies gave Ohio State the lead and sealed the game.

During the postgame press conference, head coach Lisa Bluder addressed the issue of the foul call.

“Obviously, I wish [the ref] wouldn’t have made the call,” she said. “I think it would have been a great overtime. And it seemed like after that game the way it was going it should have went into overtime. … So it is what it is.”

While the 10th-year Iowa coach won’t say it, I will.

To determine a game with less than two seconds left by calling a foul when it hasn’t been called the previous 39 minutes in the contest is questionable. And with so much on the line, how they can feel good about that decision is beyond me.

I’ll give Lavender credit, she was clutch. She nailed both of them perfectly. She was named the Most Outstanding Player for a reason. I had to bite my tongue in disbelief with that ruling.

I almost had the same feeling in my stomach while watching Lavender drain those feel throws as I did when Devin Barclay hit the game-winning overtime field goal for Ohio State back in November.

Slow, painful, and inevitable.

However, what’s done is done. While the team may be left in tears now, they are undoubtedly a force in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes should have been ranked in the top 25 coming into this game, but because of a slow start during the beginning of the season, weren’t.

Even though they were the third seed in the tournament, they were also considered underdogs. Boasting one of the youngest starting line-ups in the country, Iowa has shown impressive maturity the last two months.

The Hawkeyes’ strong play the last month and a half  — where they’ve won 11 out of their last 14 games — has likely guaranteed them a spot int he NCAA tournament. There isn’t a more deserving team to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance.

Losing to Ohio State twice by a mere eight points, I hope the Hawkeyes get a chance to redeem themselves. Bloodied and battered from this weekend, I don’t think they’re done yet.

“I feel like we played hard,” Bluder said. ” We didn’t get the victory and it hurts right now, but I think we’ll ounce back and be ready for the tournament.”

Me too.

— by Evelyn Lau