Despite travel-related issues caused by the winter ice storms that impacted the Midwest recently, Iowa women's basketball (16-7, 6-6 Big Ten) escaped victoriously at Minnesota (18-6, 6-6) by a score of 68-60 on Thursday night from Williams Arena in Minneapolis, Minn., for their fourth consecutive victory.

Gophers guard Amaya Battle looks for the basket with Hawkeyes forward Hannah Stuelke (45) defending in the first half. (Richard Tsong-Taatarii/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The Iowa women’s basketball team defeated Minnesota, 68-60, at Williams Arena on Thursday. The Hawkeyes started strong, scoring 18 points in the first quarter against the Gophers 7. Junior Hannah Stuelke lead Iowa in points while also securing her spot in the 1,

After a massive win over USC, the Iowa Hawkeyes receive a huge bump in the newest NCAA Tournament bracketology.

If the regular season ended today, the Gophers likely would have done enough to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament. Of course, it doesn’t. The Gophers have have seven regular season games left and will need to use the final full month of the season (plus the Big Ten tournament next month) to boost their the credentials.

The Gopher women are firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble and face a big game against Iowa Thursday night in Dinkytown. Gopher head coach Dawn Plitzuweit says Iowa is a handful, Caitlin Clark or not.