Nov. 27, 2009
RENO, Nev. — The University of Iowa couldn’t get a good look in the final 15 seconds and the Hawkeyes fell to West Virginia, 69-66, in the first round of the women’s basketball Nugget Classic on Friday in the Lawlor Event Center.
“We were trying to get a three-point play and we were trying to set it up for Kamille (Wahlin),” UI head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We’re a young basketball team and we lost our focus during the last few minutes of the game.”
Iowa (4-2 overall) will face Columbia (3-2) in the consolation game Saturday with a 6:45 p.m. tip (Iowa time). Columbia lost to the host Wolf Pack, 64-47, in the other first-round match-up. West Virginia improved to 4-1.
UI freshman Jaime Printy turned in a stellar performance, posting team-highs in points (17), assists (eight) and rebounds (six). Sophomores Kelly Krei and Kamille Wahlin both added 16 points. Krei also grabbed six rebounds.
A desperation game-tying three-point attempt by Wahlin was partially blocked by West Virginia’s Liz Repella at the buzzer.
West Virginia turned 22 Hawkeye turnovers into 19 points. Still, Iowa held leads of nine points on three different occasions in the second half, including a 54-45 advantage with 11:13 remaining. That’s when Krei converted a layup off an assist by Morgan Johnson.
Iowa shot 47.2 percent from the field (25 of 53), including 9 of 18 from three-point range. Printy was 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and Krei was 3 of 5. The Mountaineers dominated the game on the inside, outscoring the Hawkeyes 44-24 in points in the paint.
“We shot the ball well,” Bluder said. “Our free throw shooting (7 of 11) wasn’t as good as we’d like it to be. We fouled and put them to the line way too many times.”
West Virginia doubled Iowa in free throw attempts — 22 to 11. The Mountaineers made 19 from the charity stripe.
The first half belonged to the Hawkeyes, who led by 11 points twice and by 10 points five other times. Iowa led 36-30 at halftime behind a 13-point, 6-assist performance by Printy. Krei had the hot hand for the Hawkeyes during the final 20 minutes, scoring 12 points with three 3-pointers.After shooting 55.2 percent from the field in the first half, Iowa made 9 of 24 field goals in the second half (37.5 percent).