By JOHN BOHNENKAMP

IOWA CITY, Iowa — It was an opportunity, Mia Nicastro said, to be on a big stage.

Western Illinois’ women’s basketball team lost 86-69 to 11th-ranked Iowa on Wednesday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but Nicastro said it was an experience the Leathernecks appreciated.

“I mean, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” the senior forward said. “Packed house. They say, ‘Women’s basketball lives here.’ It’s just really, really cool. I think sometimes you get too caught up in wins and losses, but when you step back and look at it, this is something that every single girl in that locker room has dreamed about being a part of, playing in front of 10,000 people or whatever at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, just playing basketball and doing what you love.”

It was the first defeat of the season for the Leathernecks (4-1), who outscored Iowa (7-0) 44-42 in the second half. But it was a lesson that they expect to pay off with the beginning of Ohio Valley Conference play next month.

“I think we got a positive takeaway from this game,” said junior Raegan McCowan. “You know, obviously we didn’t get the outcome that we wanted. We wanted to hang with them. We wanted to obviously win that ballgame. But I think we had some great takeaways.”

“There were a couple times where we probably could have really folded, and it could have gotten ugly, and I thought we got our heads up and quickly and had some battle in us,” Western Illinois coach JD Gravina said.

Iowa took control early, scoring the last 10 points to lead 20-9 at the end of the first quarter. Western Illinois shot just 4 of 17 from the field in the quarter.

“I felt like we could compete,” Gravina said. “We got a lot of good shots in the first quarter, and we shot it poorly. If you give us a normal shooting percentage in that quarter, we stay in the game a little bit longer.”

“We played our game offensively,” McCowan said. “And honestly, if shots would have fallen first and second (quarter) like they did third in the fourth quarter, I think that would be a different ballgame.”

Western Illinois shot 50% from the field in the second half. Nicastro, who came into the game ranked second in NCAA Division I in scoring at 26.2 points per game, led the Leathernecks with 20 points. McCowan had 16 before fouling out in the fourth quarter. Addi Brownfield and Mallory Shetley each had 10 points.

Iowa’s size advantage inside was evident in the first half, when centers Ava Heiden and Layla Hays combined to take all seven of their shots and the Hawkeyes had a 30-8 advantage in points in the paint.

Gravina altered Western Illinois’ defense in the second half to better deny some of those post entries.

“Second half we came out and fronted a lot,” Gravina said. “At least it made it tougher for them to catch and shoot.”

Iowa did have 21 turnovers.

“When you get to this level, there is just a big size difference,” Nicastro said. “Realistically, I’m not a ‘5’ in the Big Ten, and Raegan’s not a ‘4’ in the Big Ten. So you’re defending kids that you probably wouldn’t defend if you were on a different team. They use their size really well. They use their bodies really well in the post. And I think we did a good job kind of just being pests and making them uncomfortable.”

“This was a hard team for us to guard,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said. “I thought JD had a great game plan. … We lost some of our defensive assignments at times, but that type of team is not easy for our centers to guard.”

It was the most points scored against Iowa this season.

The experience, though, is something the Leathernecks will remember. They even took turns during shoot-around shooting 3-pointers from the “22” logo on the floor where Caitlin Clark broke the NCAA women’s basketball scoring record in 2024.

“Made mine on the first try,” McCowan said, smiling. “Dead serious.”

“I think, if nothing else, we held them under 100 (points), which they’ve been scoring on some other big mid-majors,” Nicastro said. “That’s actually the highest point total that anyone has scored on them all season. We showed that we can compete against teams like that, we can compete on the big stage — 17-point loss to the No. 11 team in the country. I think we have a lot to be happy about, a lot to be impressed with, but then also a lot to take back and learn from this.”

Photo: Western Illinois’ Mia Nicastro shoots over Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke and Layla Hays in Wednesday’s game. (John Gaines Photography)