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Iowa is a game up in the Big Ten standings with five games to play and a couple of brutal road trips on the horizon.

But for a Hawkeye team picked to finish seventh by the coaches in October, it’s a pretty nice spot at the moment.

“We felt coming into this year, this could be a very, very good year for us,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.

Now sitting at 17-7 overall, 10-3 in the Big Ten, Iowa is a full game up on Purdue and Ohio State in the conference standings and also is receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

“They are enjoying it,” Bluder said of her players. “There is no extra pressure. They are enjoying it, they’ve worked hard and they deserve it.”

hawk central | Hawkeye Basketball, Women's