Nov. 22, 2005
RUSTON, LA. —Lisa Bluder’s Iowa women’s basketball team squared off against one of the storied programs of women’s college basketball history Tuesday when it went toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose with Louisiana Tech in the first of three games the Hawkeyes will play over the Thanksgiving holiday.
The game wasn’t decided after regulation. The game wasn’t decided after the first overtime. The Hawkeyes blinked in the second extra session and the home team raced in, claiming a 95-91 victory. The loss dropped Iowa to 1-1; the Lady Techsters improved to 1-1.
Iowa was led by Crystal Smith, a senior from Haughton, La., who scored a school record 46 points. Tiffany Reedy scored 10 points and added seven rebounds. Krista VandeVenter scored five points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
Tied at 87-all after the first overtime, the home team built a four-point margin at 93-89 when Shan Moore and Ty Moore dropped a pair of buckets, the second coming at just under the two-minute mark. Smith pulled Iowa to within two at 93-91 with a pair of free throws with less than 30 seconds left to play, but Iowa couldn’t get any closer.
The Hawkeyes had three leads in the first extra session: Smith dropped a three pointer to open the period and give Iowa a 79-76 lead, Reedy drove the lane to put Iowa ahead at 81-79, and Reedy dropped a free throw to put the Hawkeyes ahead 82-81.
VandeVenter sent the game into a second overtime session at 87-all when she dropped one of two free throws with 12 seconds to play.
Iowa worked hard to take a 39-35 lead into intermission. The Hawkeyes came out of the break flying and had a 19-point lead when Smith dropped in a layup that gave the visiting team a 71-52 margin with 7:18 left to play
Then, slowly, methodically, the home team chipped away at the margin. Iowa freshman Megan Skouby sent the game into overtime when she converted on one of two free throws at the 1:36 mark of the final stanza.
Iowa plays nationally ranked Oklahoma Friday in first round action of the Odwalla Classic in San Francisco. The host school, San Francisco, and Rider square off in the other tournament’s other game.