Nov. 15, 2006
IOWA CITY — Coach Lisa Bluder’s Iowa Hawkeyes won the WBCA Classic last weekend in Kansas City thanks in good measure to their ability to sink free throws when it mattered most.
Bluder’s Bunch did the same Wednesday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, riding five strikes from the charity stripe in the final three minutes of play to a hard-fought 88-83 victory over Indiana State. The win pushes Iowa’s record to a perfect 3-0 heading into the 2006 KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge Friday and Saturday night in the Arena.
Megan Skouby pulled Iowa into an 81-all tie with a short jumper with 2:58 left. She gave the Hawkeyes a two-point lead 30 seconds later with a pair of free throws. Wendy Ausdemore pushed the lead to 84-81 when she sank the second of two from the line.
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Iowa stages the 2006 KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge Friday and Saturday nights in Carver-Hawkeye Arena before breaking briefly prior to “Buck Night 2006” — Tuesday, Nov. 21, when the Hawkeyes entertain Louisiana Tech. That night, every adult pays just $1 for their game ticket and boys and girls high school aged and younger are admitted free.
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Schaplkohl answered a two-pointer by the Sycamore with a pair of free throws with 20 ticks left on the clock and Ausdemore put the game in the win column with a pair with five seconds left to play.
Schlapkohl led all scorers with 24 points. Ausdemore added 19 and eight rebounds, Skouby chipped in 17 points and Kristi Smith 11 for the winners. Jenee Graham once again came up huge on the boards for Bluder’s squad, grabbing 14, a total that included eight on the defensive end of the floor.
“Good teams find a way to win and we had the will to win tonight. It was such an up-and-down paced game, as well as a physical game. That is not a style of play that I particularly like playing, but we did the things we had to do at the end to win,” said Bluder.
“We took care of the ball. We only had nine turnovers against a team that creates 24 turnovers on average for their opponents,” she added. “We made our free throws down the stretch. We made nine of our last 10 free throws. We also had four players in double figures.”
Iowa trailed for most of the first half, but grabbed a 37-32 lead when Graham sank a layup with 3:09 left. The Hawkeyes carried a 42-39 margin into the lockerroom at halftime.
ISU tied the game at 68-all when Kara Schilli dropped a jumper with 9:24 remaining to play. The teams traded leads with each going up by as many as four prior to Skouby knotting the score at 81-all.
Indiana State was led in scoring by Laura Rudolphi, who had 17 points. Four other Sycamores scored in double-figures.
Iowa shot a solid 44 percent from the field and 77 percent from the line, and committed only nine turnovers to go with 17 assists. The Hawkeyes outrebounded ISU, 41-35.
“I think we are going to look back at tonight’s game down the road and say that this was a real good win,” Bluder said.