Dec. 23, 2005
IOWA CITY – Megan Skouby scored a career-high 22 points while Krista VandeVenter added 18 points and a career-high six steals en route to a 74-64 victory over Creighton Friday night inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The win was Iowa’s third straight over the Bluejays and the third straight over a Missouri Valley Conference opponent.
After Creighton (2-7) jumped out to an early 7-1 lead to start the game Megan Skouby drilled five straight jumpers to tie the contest at 13-13. Iowa (7-4) took its first lead with 8:29 left in the first half after a layup from Wendy Ausdemore but the Bluejays regained the lead after a Kristi Woodard bucket and did not trail the rest of the half.
Creighton out-rebounded the Hawkeyes 19-16 in the first half and scored 11 second chance points off nine offensive rebounds.
Iowa continued to fight and trimmed the Creighton lead to just two at the start the second half but Ally Thrall drilled a three-pointer with 17:18 left to increase the Bluejay lead to seven. The Hawkeyes responded with a 7-0 run to regain a 44-43 lead with 13:29 left.
After Creighton’s Angie Janis hit a jumper to put the Bluejays up by three, VandeVenter swiped one of her six steals for a layup to give Iowa a 50-49 lead with 9:48 left and the Hawkeyes never relinquished the lead. A three-pointer by Tiffany Reedy gave Iowa a 54-49 lead and a three-point play by Nicole VanderPol with 5:59 left gave the Hawkeyes a comfortable advantage. Four free throws by Ausdemore down the stretch sealed the win for Iowa. Ausdemore is now a perfect 12-12 from the line this season.
Starting center Stacy Schlapkohl suffered a knee injury early in the first half and did not return to action.
The Iowa post players responded very well in Schlapkohl’s absence by outscoring Creighton 36-22 in the paint. Skouby scored 12 of her 22 points in the first half while VandeVenter scored 16 of her 18 points in the second half. The Hawkeyes shot 53.8% (28-52) from the field while holding Creighton to 40.7% (24-59).
For the second game in a row Iowa’s bench played a big part in the win, outscoring Creighton 36-19.
Creighton was able to gain an advantage on the boards and outrebounded Iowa 36-30, including 16 offensive rebounds. Angie Janis led Creighton with 19 points while Kristi Woodard grabbed nine rebounds.
Crystal Smith had 13 points for Iowa which marked the first time since the season opener against UW-Milwaukee that she did not lead team in scoring.
The Hawkeyes have had success of late against Missouri Valley Conference teams, defeating eight of the last nine MVC foes they have faced.
Iowa will have six days to prepare for its opening game in Big Ten action on December 29 at Indiana. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m.