Feb. 10, 2005
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Coach Lisa Bluder’s Iowa Hawkeyes stumbled into Evanston, Ill., Thursday for a date with the Northwestern Wildcats. It was the perfect game at the perfect time at the perfect place for the slumping squad.
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“I was very impressed with our intensity at the start of each 20 minutes. I also liked the fact that we played defense from start to finish and the defense didn’t go away when the offense stalled,”
UI Head Coach Lisa Bluder
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Iowa, hitting on virtually every cylinder, walked out of Welsh-Ryan Arena as winners by a 60-40 score. The victory snapped a two-game losing skid and sent Bluder’s Bunch rolling back to Iowa City in the right frame of mind for Sunday’s date with No. 2 ranked Ohio State.
The Hawkeyes – who improved to 16-6 overall and 5-6 in league play with their first victory away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena since a 72-58 victory over Illinois on Jan. 2 – shot well, defended well, rebounded well, forced turnovers, shared the ball, and even engaged their bench in the scoring parade.
Nine different players scored for Bluder’s Bunch, headed by center Jamie Cavey, who scored a game-high 15 points. Johanna Solverson added 14 points and Crystal Smith nine. Krista VandeVenter grabbed a game-high seven rebounds.
Iowa led from start to finish, but it was the start — actually, both of them — that caught the attention of their head coach.
“I was very impressed with our intensity at the start of each 20 minutes. I also liked the fact that we played defense from start to finish and the defense didn’t go away when the offense stalled,” said Bluder.
Iowa and Ohio State will tipoff at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Arena. That game is the first of two events that day in Iowa City. Coach Jim Zalesky’s nationally ranked Iowa wrestling team will entertain nationally ranked Michigan at 6 p.m.
Strange as it sounds, Iowa will be the underdog in both.
“It will be a little of David versus Goliath, but maybe the good guys will come out ahead. We’re at home, so that will help. We’ll see,” Bluder remarked when asked about her team’s chances of knocking off the Buckeyes