By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY — There is no risk playing with “house money,” as Northern Iowa guard Maya McDermott and her teammates call it.

There is the inherent risk, Jan Jensen said, for the two power conference teams that are part of Iowa’s in-state foursome of basketball teams, and she’s seen both sides of it as a player and as a coach.

Jensen’s Iowa team claimed the state championship that has no trophy to go with it with the 92-86 win over UNI on Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the punctuation mark of the three-game sweep through the state’s NCAA Division I schools that started with a road win back in November at Drake and continued with a home comeback against Iowa State last week.

Jensen played in the rivalry games at Drake, was an assistant coach there for them as well, and has been an assistant coach and now head coach with the Hawkeyes.

She gets what it means for everyone involved.

“The risk when you play these — and it is risk, and this is no disrespect, but when we were at Drake too, as coaches, and I love the mid-majors, I believe in them — but when you’re the big guy, you’re supposed to win,” Jensen said. “And so then everybody is like, they can’t wait for the game, because then the people can’t wait for the big guys to fail. And if the little guys get close, it’s like, way to go, little guys, right?”

The big team didn’t fail, but neither did the little team in this one. Iowa (10-2) led by as much as 18 points in the second quarter, only to see it get whittled to one point in the fourth quarter by UNI (5-6), which already had a home win over Iowa State this season to claim its opportunity at grabbing the mythical crown of the state.

“I thought it was a great basketball game,” said UNI coach Tanya Warren. “If you don’t understand how good basketball is in the state, then I don’t know where you’ve been.”

The Panthers’ record isn’t gaudy by any means, but Jensen didn’t need numbers to understand her opponents’ strength.

“I’ve watched that team a lot on film,” Jensen said, “and if you look at their record, they lost by three to Kansas. They lost by one to Auburn. They beat Iowa State. And everybody’s like, that was at home. If you watched how they beat Iowa State, it wouldn’t matter if it was at home or on a neutral site.”

It was that 87-75 win over the Cyclones that gave the Panthers confidence in this game. They dominated Iowa State in the second half, and when they settled in at halftime of this game, they thought they could do the same thing against the Hawkeyes.

Go back to McDermott’s “house money” comment — the Panthers had no pressure to prove themselves, and in the process showed they were just as good as their rivals with bigger reputations.

“Iowa State and Iowa are ranked, as they should be — very, very good teams, very good players — and we know we can compete with them,” said McDermott.

McDermott, at 5-foot-6, is the smallest player on the court, but became the biggest star in this year’s rivalry battles. She had 37 points against Iowa State, and followed that with 30 points against the Hawkeyes.

McDermott tormented Iowa with 17 second-half points as Jensen and the Hawkeyes could find no way to defend her as she sliced her way to open shots.

“We were trying to switch,” Jensen said of how the Hawkeyes were trying to guard McDermott. “We were trying to do a lot of different things, but when Maya gets on a roll…”

Iowa was in command throughout the first half, but what worried Jensen was what the Panthers did in the second quarter. UNI shot 55.6 percent from the field, including making 4 of 6 3-pointers, and scored 20 points over the final 5:46 of the half. The Hawkeyes led 53-37 at halftime, but Jensen had a bad feeling.

“We let them get confidence,” Jensen said. “We let them have a taste. And then we started playing on our heels.”

McDermott said the Panthers “settled in” during the second half, and pointed to Warren as the reason why.

“She’s a former point guard herself, and she always says, ‘Poise, poise, poise,’” McDermott said. “So that was what was going through my head, plus believing we could still win.”

UNI outscored Iowa 25-17 in the third quarter, 24-22 in the fourth, but yet never got a lead.

“We didn’t falter,” said Iowa guard Taylor McCabe, who scored 15 points off five 3-pointers, including one with 4:17 left after UNI got within 78-77. “We kept changing up things and trying different stuff. So I really do feel like we were in control for the most part.”

Iowa’s losses this season to Tennessee and Michigan State came because of second-half struggles, so getting a win like this, holding off the Panthers’ fury, was a good sign for a team that Warren had said looked like it was still trying to learn about each other.

“They’re kind of looking at you like, ‘Oh, we let that lead slip. Is Coach happy?’” Jensen said. “Heck yeah. I mean, I’m very happy. I mean, winning is hard. No matter who you play, it’s hard, and in-state rivalry games are really hard. So that’s exactly what I told them. I said there were a lot of moments when it kind of swung, but you did what you had to do, when you had to do it.

“And I said, ‘End of conversation. Enjoy it.’”

Warren made sure to make a final point to end her post-game conversation. She went down through the resumé the Panthers have already crafted this season, what they’ve proven with one big win and one close loss, what they’ve done with “house money.”

“We’re a very good program,” she said, standing up to leave the press conference. “And if, if you haven’t noticed that by now, you probably figured it out today.”

Photo: UNI coach Tanya Warren (left) and Iowa coach Jan Jensen talk before Friday’s game. (Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire)