March 22, 2005
LINCOLN, NE — The Iowa women’s basketball team led start-to-finish upending Nebraska 71-67 in the SportsView.tv WNIT Second Round Monday night in the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Hawkeyes advanced to the WNIT Quarterfinals where Iowa (22-9) will play Arkansas State (21-10) Thursday night in Cedar Rapids at the US Cellular Arena at 7:05 p.m. The Indians dropped in-state rival Arkansas 98-84 in front of a record home crowd Monday night in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
Iowa jumped out to a quick 9-0 advantage, making five of its first six field goal attempts. The Hawkeyes built their largest lead up to 13 (23-10) with 11:21 left in the first half before the Cornhuskers went on a 15-4 run to trim Iowa’s advantage to three (25-22) with 8:18 remaining in the stanza. The Hawkeyes maintained their composure and took a six-point lead into halftime (40-34).
The Hawkeyes posted half season highs in field goal percentage (60.7, 17-28) and fewest turnovers (4) in the first frame. Iowa also scored its 40 first half points without its leading scorer entering the game – Jamie Cavey. The native of Mechanicsviile, Iowa, played only four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble. In fact, the senior was in foul trouble all game and finished the game scoring a season-low four points on only 1-2 shooting from the field and 2-3 from the charity stripe in a season-low 17 minutes of action.
Replacing Cavey was freshman Stacy Schlapkohl. The native of Durant, Iowa, stepped up in a huge way and scored eight first half points on 4-6 shooting from the field during Cavey’s absence. For the game Schlapkohl netted 12 points on 6-8 shooting in a season-high 23 minutes of action. The 12 points were her second-highest output of the season (Northern Iowa, 18).
Midway through the second half, Nebraska went on a 7-0 run to tie the game 49-49. The Hawkeyes answered with their own run of 8-0, spearheaded by Crystal Smith. The junior scored six of the eight points and finished the contest scoring a team-high 21 points (8-14 FG, 4-6 FT). She also finished with four assists and three steals.
Smith helped slam the door shut on the pesky Cornhuskers as Nebraska had an opportunity to tie the game trailing 70-67 with under a minute remaining, but Smith pick-pocketed Nebraska’s best player, Kiera Hardy, and passed the ball to freshman Krista VandeVenter who was immediately fouled. VandeVenter drained one of her two foul shots to give Iowa a 71-67 advantage with nine seconds remaining to secure the victory.
Hardy netted a game-high 26 points, bolstered by 7-11 shooting from 3-point range. Jelena Spiric tallied 18 points and six rebounds in defeat.
Hawkeye junior Johanna Solverson had another spectacular game, scoring 18 points on 7-12 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from beyond the arc, and collecting five rebounds and a game-high six assists. Senior Jenna Armstrong netted five points and matched a career best with six helpers.
Iowa improved to 4-0 against Big XII opponents and 13-0 against non-conference foes this season. The Hawkeyes also improved to 14-0 when collecting more steals (9-6), 20-1 when having the higher field goal percentage (52.9-35.5), 18-2 when having the halftime lead and 21-1 when having the lead with five minutes left in the game.
Thursday night’s game will be a night of firsts; marking the first time Iowa will play Arkansas State and first time the Hawkeye women will have played a game in the US Cellular Arena.