IOWA CITY, Iowa. – Penn State women’s basketball falls to No. 14 Iowa, 99-76, inside Carver Hawkeye Arena on Sunday evening. The Nittany Lions descend to 7-6 and 0-2 in Big Ten play, while the Hawkeyes improve to 11-2 and 2-0 within the Big Ten.

The trio of double figure Penn State scorers was not enough to convert a victory with the Hawkeyes doubling their number with six double-digit scorers.

Freshman Tea Cleante led the Nittany Lions, recording her third consecutive double figure scoring outing with 21 points to go with three assists and two steals. Sophomore Kiyomi McMiller produced 20 points and four assists in her outing. Merkle also reached the double-digit points mark for the third-straight game, posting 18 points on 8 of 10 shooting from the floor.

She also grabbed 11 rebounds to secure her fifth double-double of the campaign and second in the previous three contests. Senior Maggie Mendelson tied McMiller and Shayla Smith for the team lead with four assists in addition to two blocks, one steal and one board. Defensively, freshman Smith was effective as she totaled five rebounds, four assists and two steals.

Iowa enhanced its lead by as many as 25 before PSU could add points to the board in the fourth quarter. The Nittany Lions used a steal from Smith on defense to convert two points from Cleante on the offensive end. Two free throws for the Hawkeyes were followed up by a jumper from McMiller. After another Iowa basket, McMiller drained a shot from long range to cut the lead to 22. Cleante turned defense into offense to bring the score to 81-61in favor of Iowa. Merkle continued the run for the Nittany Lions with two points off a turnover and McMiller added another two to cap off the 9-0 stretch.

Iowa responded with a run of its own, adding four consecutive points. The teams traded layups to maintain a 20-point margin until the Nittany Lions put up back-to-back points to cut the deficit to 16 points. Iowa utilized seven-straight scores to balloon its lead to 24 points before Murray could add a shot from three-point range. The Hawkeyes finished the contest with two points to finalize a 99-76 victory.

Iowa got on the board first, but Merkle had the response with a layup after forcing a jumpball on the defensive end. The Hawkeyes used second-chance points to add to their advantage, but a three-pointer from McMiller decreased the margin to 11. The squads exchanged baskets until the home team added four in consecutive fashion. Viktoria Ranisavljevic dropped a shot from way beyond the arc to threaten. Both teams took trips to the charity stripe where each would only produce one-of-two free throws.

A three-pointer got the Hawkeyes going, allowing them to compile five consecutive points. Cleante had the answer with a driving layup to the rim. Six-straight Iowa points forced PSU to utilize a timeout at the 1:13 mark in the third stanza. The Hawkeyes built a 21-point edge after 30 minutes of game action following points from each squad out of the break.

PENN STATE (7-6, 0-2 BIG TEN)

Tea Cleante 8-13 2-2 21, Kiyomi McMiller 9-20 0-0 20, Gracie Merkle 8-10 2-3 18, Moriah Murray 2-3 0-0 6, Maggie Mendelson 0-4 0-0 0, Viktoria Ranisavljevic 2-5 0-0 5, Shayla Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Amiya Evans 1-3 0-0 2, Vitoria Santana 0-0 0-0 0, Nyla McFadden 0-1 0-0 0, Rachael Okokoh 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 32-63 4-5 76.

IOWA (11-2, 2-0 BIG TEN)

Ava Heiden 13-19 1-1 27, Chazadi right 5-11 4-4 16, Hannah Stuelke 5-9 4-11 14, Taylor Stremlow 4-6 4-4 14, Taylor McCabe 1-9 0-0 3, Addison Deal 6-8 0-0 13, Journey Houston 4-5 3-3 11, Layla Hays 0-3 1-2 1, Callie Levin 0-2 0-0 0, Teagan Mallegni 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 38-76 17-25 99.

Penn State 14 23 15 24 — 76

Iowa 29 20 24 26 — 99

3-point goals: PSU 8-23 (Cleante 3-7, McMiller 2-6, Murray 2-3, Ranisavljevic 1-3, Smith 0-1, McFadden 0-1, Mendelson 0-2), Iowa 6-23 (Wright 2-6, Stremlow 2-2, McCabe 1-9, Deal 1-1, Levin 0-2, Mallegni 0-3). Fouled out: PSU-none; Iowa-none. Rebounds: PSU 27 (Merkle 11), Iowa 48 (Houston 11). Assists: PSU 21 (Smith 4, Mendelson 4, McMiller 4), Iowa 24 (Wright 6). Technical fouls: PSU-none; Iowa-none. Total fouls: PSU 24, Iowa 11.