Hannah Stuelke

MINNEAPOLIS — The Iowa women’s basketball team led by as many as 13 points in the second half yet had to hold off Minnesota down the stretch, defeating the Golden Gophers 68-60 on Thursday night at Williams Arena.

The Hawkeyes (16-7, 6-6) never trailed and there were only two ties — at 2-2 and 51-all. The latter came with 4:33 left in the game, but Iowa managed to break free from Minnesota (18-6, 6-6) to claim its fourth-straight victory.

Iowa’s win streak comes on the heels of a five-game losing streak that featured a handful of games resembling Thursday’s Big Ten Conference thriller, only this time the Hawkeyes had the answer when challenged.

Hannah Stuelke scored a game-high 17 points for Iowa, twice hitting contested shots to give the Hawkeyes five-point leads in the last three minutes of play. Sydney Affolter and Taylor McCabe both made 3-pointers to keep Minnesota out of striking distance over the final 1:28.

Lucy Olsen came away with 14 points and seven assists, while Affolter registered her third double-double of the season with 13 points and 14 rebounds. Kylie Feuerbach also had 13 points for Iowa, which had to delay its flight to Minnesota until Thursday morning due to Wednesday’s freezing rain.

Tori McKinney scored 16 points to lead the Golden Gophers, who sustained their third-straight loss. Annika Stewart added 14 points off the bench.

Iowa 68, Minnesota 60

IOWA (16-7, 6-6) — McCabe 1-5 0-0 3, Affolter 4-9 2-3 13, Feuerbach 4-8 4-4 13, Olsen 5-15 3-4 14, Stuelke 7-11 3-7 17, Stremlow 1-2 0-0 2, Guyton 0-4 0-0 0, O’Grady 2-4 2-4 6, Mallegni 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 24-58 14-22 68.

MINNESOTA (18-6, 6-6) — Battle 3-10 6-8 12, McKinney 6-13 2-4 16, Heyer 4-8 0-0 10, Grocholski 2-8 0-0 4, Hart 1-7 2-2 4, Rose 0-2 0-0 0, Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Stewart 4-9 3-3 14, Klick 0-0 0-0 0, Holloway 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 20-57 13-17 60.

IOWA 18 14 11 25 — 68

MINNESOTA 7 14 16 23 — 60

3-Point Goals–Iowa 6-20 (Affolter 3-5, Feuerbach 1-3, Olsen 1-4, McCabe 1-5, Stremlow 0-1, Guyton 0-2), Minnesota 7-28 (Stewart 3-7, Heyer 2-3, McKinney 2-6, Rose 0-2, Battle 0-5, Grocholski 0-5). Rebounds–Iowa 44 (Affolter 14), Minnesota 33 (Heyer 10). Assists–Iowa 17 (Olsen 7), Minnesota 11 (three with 3). Total Fouls–Iowa 20, Minnesota 22. Fouled Out–Stuelke. A–6,721.