Bluder’s Squad Starts Slow, Rolls

Nov. 6, 2006

Box Score | Quotes

IOWA CITY – Lisa Bluder liked what she saw in the second half of her team’s 70-50 victory over Concordia-St. Paul Monday in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the head coach of the University of Iowa women’s basketball team said the Hawkeyes have a lot of work to do before playing for real this weekend.

“The exhibition season is over and we have a lot of work to do,” Bluder said after Iowa’s second pre-season victory over a Division II opponent. “There’s no doubt that we see that we have a lot of things to work on, but that’s good. It’s early in the season.”

What Bluder liked most about her team’s effort Monday was a ratcheting up of the intensity, particularly on the defensive end of the floor, during the second half. The Hawkeyes limited their guests to just 24 percent success from the field when they slowly but surely took a four-point halftime lead up to double-digits in securing the victory.

Iowa was paced in scoring by sophomore center Megan Skouby, who had 21 points on seven of 18 shooting from the field and seven free throws. Abby Emmert added 12 points and Wendy Ausdemore 10 for the Hawkeyes.

Jenee Graham grabbed an eye-popping 21 rebounds including 12 on the defensive end of the court and eight on the offensive glass in the second half alone to pace Iowa in that important category.

“I couldn’t be more prouder of Jenee’s effort. It was impressive,” said Bluder.

Iowa shot just 35 percent from the field, hitting 20 of 56 field goal attempts, a total that included just three-of-15 shooting from behind the arc. But Concordia was even less successful – 17 of 66 from the field for the game – and made just seven field goals in the final 20 minutes.

Bluder’s squad opens its 2006-07 regular season Saturday against Missouri State in first round action of the WBCA Classic in Kansas City. Game time is set for 4:30 p.m. Iowa time.