March 7, 2008
Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery 
Iowa and Purdue will meet for the fifth time in a Big Ten Tournament (1-3). The fifth meeting will be the most against any other Big Ten opponent in a conference tournament contest (Indiana and Northwestern four times).
Iowa lost its last Big Ten Tournament game against Purdue in 2003 (84-57 in the semifinals).
Iowa and Purdue split this season’s two meetings with each team winning at home. The Hawkeyes defeated the Boilermakers by 16 at home (69-53) on Jan. 24, but fell at West Lafayette (59-46) on Feb. 14. The lost at Purdue snapped Iowa’s eight-game winning streak.
Kristi Smith scored nine points yesterday vs. Michigan to raise her career total to 997 career points. She would be the third Hawkeye to reach the 1,000-point plateau this season (Solverson, Skouby).
Iowa has three players who average double figures against the Boilermakers: Kristi Smith (14.2) and Wendy Ausdemore (12.8) and Megan Skouby (12.8). In the last game against the Boilermakers (Feb. 14), Smith scored Iowa’s first two points then was held scoreless the rest of the game missing her final five field goal attempts.
Purdue leads the overall series, 29-24, winning 10 of the last 12 games against the Black and Gold.
Saturday marks the sixth time the Hawkeyes have reached the tournament semifinals. Iowa is 2-3 in semifinal games, competing against Purdue three of the five times (0-3). The Hawkeyes have alternated wins and losses in their last five semifinal contests (1996 – loss; 1997 – win; 1998 – loss; 2001 – win; 2003 – loss).
Iowa is 2-0 in Saturday games this season.
Iowa made six 3-pointers yesterday, upping its season total to 180, which is the second-most by an Iowa team in history (199 during the 1999-00 season).
Friday’s 21-point win over Michigan (58-37) improves Iowa’s overall record to 21-9. Iowa has won 12 of its last 14 games. The Hawkeyes improved to 38-11 against the Wolverines.
The Hawkeyes’ previous win at the Big Ten Tournament was against Michigan in 2005. The Hawkeyes have an all-time Big Ten Tournament record of 2-0 against the Wolverines. Iowa improves its overall Big Ten Tournament record to 13-11.
Iowa held Michigan to 37 points, which is the fewest amount of points given up in Big Ten Tournament history (39 by Northwestern in 2000 and 39 by Wisconsin in 2004). The low point total also accounts for the Hawkeyes’ best of the season, besting 42 points yielded to Detroit (Dec. 2) and Northwestern (Feb. 28).
The 95 total points scored in yesterday’s game marked the lowest combined scoring total in a Big Ten Tournament contest.
After starting the game behind 2-0, the Hawkeyes went on a 10-0 run in 4:30. The Hawkeyes never trailed after claiming the early advantage. The Black and Gold led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
The Hawkeyes led 30-19 at half; Iowa improved to 121-15 when leading at the half in eight years under Coach Bluder.
Eight different Hawkeyes scored during the game. The Hawkeyes were led by Johanna Solverson and Megan Skouby, each scoring 10 points. Stacy Schlapkohl and Kristi Smith each contributed nine points. Abby Emmert added a season-high eight points off the bench. The last time Emmert netted eight points was against Indiana in last year’s Big Ten Tournament first round game. Iowa’s bench out-scored the Wolverines, 24-10 today.
Solverson now has 1,108 career points, moving past Shanda Berry and into 19th place on Iowa’s scoring chart.
Iowa improved to 4-0 as a No. 2 seed at the Big Ten Tournament. The Hawkeyes have only been a No. 2 seed once before, going 3-0 and winning the 2001 tournament at Grand Rapids, MI.
Iowa committed only two personal fouls during the first half and held Michigan to zero free-throw attempts.
Michigan’s scored 16 of its 19 first-half points in the paint. Both Iowa and Michigan finished with 20 paint points.
Iowa out-scored Michigan 17-1 in second chance points. Iowa out-rebounded Michigan (46-24), only allowing five Michigan offensive rebounds and only one coming in the first half. Yesterday marked the second time this season, the Hawkeyes held the Wolverines off the offensive glass. Iowa held Michigan to only four offensive rebounds in a 66-61 win in Iowa City on Jan. 27.
Iowa’s +22 rebounding margin vs. Michigan (46-24) is its highest rebounding margin of the season, besting a +21 margin (53-21) in an overtime win vs. Wisconsin (Jan. 13).
Megan Skouby has reached double figure points in four of the last six games. She finished with 10 points against the Wolverines.
Iowa limited Michigan to only 13 field goals, an Iowa-opponent season-low (15 by Dartmouth and Detroit).
The Hawkeyes won their first game of the season yesterday when scoring under 60 points (1-7).
Michigan entered yesterday’s contest as the leader in 3-pointers made per game and the Hawkeyes held the Wolverines to only three on 15 attempts (.200). Iowa finished 6-15 (.400) from long distance. The Black and Gold have shot 40 percent or better in 15 games this season.
The No. 2 seed improved to 9-3 all-time against the No.7 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
Iowa is 6-3 in games played on the Big Ten Network.