Hawks Pass Test

Dec. 8, 2004

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IOWA CITY — Final exams came a little early for Lisa Bluder’s Iowa women’s basketball team Wednesday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Bluder’s Hawkeyes faced their stiffest test of the young season but held steady – and received a passing grade – by claiming a hard-fought 78-72 victory. The win pushes Iowa’s record to 7-0. The Hawkeyes will take that unblemished mark on the road for its first true road game of the year, a 7 p.m. date Friday at Creighton.

“I thought that this was a very good win for our program. It’s just fun with this team because every night somebody different is rising to the occasion,” Bluder said after her team’s fifth win in Carver this season.

“I thought Marquette played extremely well. They’re a very dangerous basketball team. They have a lot of weapons. We could never put them away.”

All looked fine for the Hawkeyes when Jamie Cavey rolled in a layup to give Iowa a 14-point lead, 48-34, with just more than 16 minutes left to play. Bluder and her squad then watched their visitors score six unanswered points.

Iowa responded by stretching its lead into double-digits four times in the next six minutes of action, the last coming when Crystal Smith completed a traditional three-point play to give Iowa a 63-53 advantage with nine minutes to play.

Marquette responded with a 14-5 run that cut Iowa’s lead to one. MU’s Christiana Quaye’s two free throws with 3:44 left to play. Jenna Armstrong

fired in a three-pointer and Cavey dropped a pair of short jumpers to secure the win.

Four Hawkeyes scored in double-figures. The list was paced by Johanna Solverson, who canned eight of 15 field goal attempts included four from behind the arc to score a game-high 21 points. Smith added 15, Cavey 14 and Armstrong 12.

“Jo (Solverson) had a tremendous game and shot extremely well from three-point range. Jenna hit a big three for us when we only had a one-point lead,” Bluder said.

“Crystal’s effort to save that ball from going out-of-bounds on the offensive rebound and keeping that possession in our favor and then scoring after that was an incredible play.”

“I’m more relaxed and more calm this year,” said Solverson. “I’m taking smarter shots and not getting so down on myself when I would miss a shot.”

Danielle Kim scored 18 to lead Marquette. Quaye and Carolyn Kieger added 17.

Iowa held a commanding edge on the boards, outrebounding Marquette 40-27. The Hawkeyes also converted 15 of their offensive rebounds into 16 points. And, consistent with its season-long trend, Iowa’s bench chipped in 20 points.