Dec. 22, 2007
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IOWA CITY — There was freezing rain outside Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday afternoon, but inside it was raining three’s — most of them from the hand of University of Iowa junior Wendy Ausdemore — as the Hawkeyes defeated Western Illinois 70-49 in nonconference women’s basketball.
Iowa improved to 7-4 overall and was a winner following a 13-day reprieve. Western Illinois is now 3-8.
Ausdemore made 5 of 8 three-point field goals in the game (5 of 6 in the first half) and finished with a game-high 19 points, with all of her scoring coming in the first half.
“I appreciate the fans that came out today,” UI head coach Lisa Bluder said. “I want to thank them. Wendy Ausdemore had just a terrific first half. She did some great, great things. I was also happy with our defense.”
Stacy Schlapkohl added 10 points and four rebounds, Kristi Smith had eight points and seven assists and JoAnn Hamlin added eight points, five rebounds and two blocked shots.
Bluder said earlier in the week that she wasn’t too concerned about her team’s lack of offense thus far this season. Saturday’s first half was evidence of that confidence. The home team enjoyed its most productive 20 minutes of the 2007-08 campaign.
The Hawkeyes carried a 41-29 lead into the locker room thanks to white-hot shooting from the field paced by Ausdemore. Iowa was good on 14 of its 28 field goal attempts, a total that included six three pointers. Ausdemore made five of six three point attempts and seven of eight field goal attempts to lead all scorers with 19 points. Schlapkohl was perfect on all three of her field goal attempts and added eight points to the Hawkeyes’ total while Smith chipped in five and a team-high six assists.
“It felt good to start the game with everything going in,” Ausdemore said. “My teammates did a good job of working together and getting me the ball when I was open.”
Iowa outscored the Westerwinds 16-4 in the stanza’s final 4:27 to break open a game that had see-sawed through the first 15 minutes with neither team opening up anything more than a four-point margin. Six points by Schlapkohl and three-point buckets by Ausdemore and Solverson – hers with two seconds left to play – provided Iowa its cushion.
Western Illinois pushed Iowa in the first half, but the Hawkeyes moved the ball well during the final 20 minutes, taking better care of the ball (five turnovers) and doing a more dominate job on the glass (22 rebounds in the second half, including seven on the offensive end).
Hawkeye reserves scored 20 points compared to just 10 bench points by the Westerwinds. Iowa also scored 14 fast-break points and 10 second-half points.
“Our defense was great in both halves,” Bluder said. “We got out and defended the ball tonight.
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