Dec. 21, 2005
Hawkeye senior Crystal Smith poured in a game-high 22 points, while sophomore Krista VandeVenter grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds as the Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball team downed the Northern Iowa Panthers for the 10th-straight time 65-54 Wednesday night at the UNI Dome.
Iowa (6-4) had a nine-point halftime cushion, but Northern Iowa came out of the locker room on fire. The Panthers scored the first nine points of the second stanza to even the contest at 31 with 15:53 remaining. The Hawkeyes answered with a 12-4 run the next four minutes to rebuild their lead back to eight (43-35) with 11:20 left.
Northern Iowa (6-3) continued to fight back and trimmed the Hawkeye advantage to six with 2:15 remaining, but back-to-back triples by Hawkeyes Tiffany Reedy and Abby Emmert helped seal Iowa’s second-straight win over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent. Iowa converted 4-6 from the foul line the final minute to secure the 11-point victory.
Smith scored 13 of her 22 points in the first half, including netting Iowa’s final first half points. The native of Haughton, LA, attempted and made Iowa’s first 3-pointer of the game at the 15:40 mark of the second half to halt a 9-0 Northern Iowa scoring run. Smith has tallied 20 points or more five times already this season.
Northern Iowa limited Hawkeye starters Krista VandeVenter and Stacy Schlapkohl to a combined three points on 0-8 shooting from the field and 3-5 from the foul line. However, Iowa’s bench stepped up to fill the scoring void as the Hawkeye reserves out-scored the Panthers 24-8. Freshman Megan Skouby scored eight, while freshman Wendy Ausdemore and sophomore Abby Emmert each added seven. Skouby also rejected three shots, raising her season total to 17 to tie for fourth on Iowa’s single-season freshman blocks chart.
Senior Tiffany Reedy contributed seven of her 10 points in the second half and also corralled five rebounds.
Northern Iowa was led by senior Cassie Hager, who scored 17 points and blocked a game-high six shots. Iowa’s stifling 2-3 zone defense made it difficult for the Panthers to have open looks. Northern Iowa converted only 31.1 percent (19-61) from the field, including only 17.2 percent (5-29) from behind the arc. Iowa made 45.5 percent (25-55) from the field.
Iowa remains perfect this year when out-rebounding its opponent (5-0) as the Hawkeyes owned a 41-36 rebounding edge.
Iowa closes its non-conference schedule Friday night when the Hawkeyes host Creighton at 7:05 p.m. in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.