Dec. 21, 2009
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Complete Release in PDF Format
IOWA CITY – THE SETTING
The Iowa Hawkeyes (6-5) will host the South Dakota State Jackrabbits (5-5) Tuesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday’s contest is Iowa’s final non-conference game of the regular season.
Single-game tickets are $9 for adults. Youth (18 and under) are admitted free.
PROMOTIONS
Tuesday is a “Family Four Pack” night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas is just $25. Fans who buy one ticket for Tuesday’s game will receive a free ticket when they present their souvenir FedEx Orange Bowl patch.
ON YOUR COMPUTER
Hawkeye fans can watch the game live on bigtennetwork.com for $2.99.
Fans can follow the game via live stats (Gametracker). The “GT” link can be accessed under the “Calendar” tab on the front page of hawkeyesports.com or on the women’s basketball schedule page.
ON YOUR RADIO
Brent Balbinot and Shelley Till will call Tuesday’s game for the Hawkeye Radio Network. The game can be heard on AM-800 KXIC, AM-600 WMT, AM-1040 WHO, and also on the Hawkeye All-Access page of hawkeyesports.com. Balbinot is in his sixth season as Iowa’s play-by-play voice, while Till is in her fifth year providing analysis.
IOWA HISTORY
Iowa has played 1,013 games, since beginning basketball in 1974. Iowa’s overall record is 616-397 (.608). That includes a 309-151 (.672) mark in regular season Big Ten contests and a 289-86 (.771) mark in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Iowa leads the all-time series, 1-0. The only meeting between the two schools was on Jan. 14, 1977, when Iowa defeated South Dakota State, 73-63 at the Jannies Classic in Warrensburg, MO.
SCOUTING SOUTH DAKOTA STATE
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits hold an overall record of 5-5. The Jackrabbits had their three-game winning streak snapped Sunday at Utah, 62-58. South Dakota State was led by Kristin Rotert, who scored 13 points (3-6 3PT FGs). Maria Boever and Macie Michelson added 10 points, while Boever led the team with with seven rebounds.
Boever leads South Dakota State, averaging 14.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. She also has a team-best 19 steals and 10 blocks. Rotert is scoring 12.7 points per game, while Michelson leads the team with 36 assists.
Aaron Johnston is in his 10th year at South Dakota State, and boasts an overall record of 230-70. Last season, Johnston led the Jackrabbits to a 32-3 record and a No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Jackrabbits lost in the second round to Baylor on a buzzer beater, and finished the season ranked No. 19.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE VS. IOWA NOTES
?Redshirt freshman Cala Westergard is from Charles City, IA, and attended Charles City High School.
? SDSU Assistant Coach Katie Falco is from nearby Solon, IA, and played college basketball at Northern Iowa.
? SDSU Assistant Coach Emilee Gusso served as an assistant coach at Drake from 2006-09.
? SDSU Graduate assistant Deb Remmerde was a member of the Iowa women’s basketball team in 2003, before transferring to Northwestern (Orange City).
? South Dakota State has five players from Minnesota, while the Hawkeyes have four.
HAWKEYES TAKE CARE OF DRAKE
Iowa torched the nets in the second half to defeat in-state rival Drake, 71-63, Sunday afternoon in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes scored 48 points in the second half, shooting .576 (19-33) from the field, including a blistering .625 (5-8) from distance.
The Bulldogs used an 11-3 run to close the first half, and took a 30-25 lead into the locker room. The Hawkeyes clawed back into the game, managing to knot the score at 52 at the 8:47 mark. Iowa then used a 10-3 surge, highlighted by long-distance three-pointers from Jaime Printy and Hannah Draxten, to take a 62-55 lead. Iowa’s defense kept Drake in check, and walked away with the 11-point win.
Iowa out-rebounded Drake, 42-27, and netted 12 second-chance points off 14 offensive boards. The Hawkeyes committed only five fouls in the game, and did not send Drake to the charity stripe.
PRINTY PACES IOWA PAST BULLDOGS
Freshman Jaime Printy finished with an impressive stat line against Drake Sunday afternoon.
The Marion, IA, native scored a career-high 22 points on 8-12 shooting, including 4-5 from distance and a perfect 2-2 from the charity stripe. She also added four rebounds, four assists two steals and zero turnovers in 28 minutes of play.
JOHNSON STAYS HOT
Freshman Morgan Johnson has had five solid games in a row for the Hawkeyes in the paint.
Johnson notched her first career double-double in Iowa’s win over Columbia, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She followed with a 16-point, six-rebound performance against Boston College. She added 12 points and seven boards against Michigan, and collected her second-career double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds at Iowa State.
In Iowa’ most recent game Sunday against Drake, Johnson was the teams’ second-leading scorer with 16 points, and also chipped in five rebounds and game-high four blocks.
Johnson had only scored in double figures twice in Iowa’s first six games, but has had five-straight games with at least 10 points.
ALEXANDER RETURNS FROM INJURY
Junior Kachine Alexander returned to the court Dec. 20 against Drake, after missing the previous seven games with a stress fracture in her right leg.
Alexander netted eight points and grabbed six rebounds (two offensive, four defensive) in 15 minutes of action off the bench.
Before her injury, Alexander was averaging 21 points and 15.7 rebounds.
DRAXTEN SEEING INCREASED MINUTES
Sophomore Hannah Draxten has seen her minutes slowly increase, after missing eight of Iowa’s first nine games with a herniated disc in her back.
Draxten made her season debut Nov. 27 against West Virginia, after missing the first five games of the season. She played five minutes against the Mountaineers, but then missed the next three contests with the back problem.
Draxten returned to action Dec. 10 at Iowa State, and played 10 minutes. The Fergus Falls, MN, native played 13 minutes Dec. 20 against Drake, scoring eight points on 3-6 shooting, including 2-5 from three-point range.
ADDING DEPTH TO THE BENCH
The Hawkeyes are finally able to get some more production off the bench, with players returning from injury.
Sunday’s game against Drake marked the first time this season that Iowa had 10 players available to play. The Hawkeyes had nine players dress for five games, eight players available for four games and just seven players on the bench against Boston College.
OH, SO CLOSE
Three of Iowa’s five losses have been by five points or less, with two of those being by three points.
The Hawkeyes had a three-point attempt at the buzzer against West Virginia fall short, that would have sent the game to overtime.
Against Boston College, Iowa missed a three-pointer with seven seconds left that would have tied the game.
Against Michigan, Iowa missed the front-end of a one-and-one from the free throw line with both 27 and 11 seconds left, each time trailing by only one point.
DRAINING FROM DISTANCE AND THE LINE
The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in three-pointers made (86, 7.8) and rank second in free throw percentage (.771) and rank three-point percentage (.376).
Individually, sophomore Kamille Wahlin is leading the conference in three-pointers made (2.6 per game) and minutes played (36.5). She also ranks sixth in scoring (15.7). Freshman Morgan Johnson is third in the Big Ten blocked shots (2.3 per game).
WAHLIN STEPPING UP
Sophomore Kamille Wahlin filled Iowa’s scoring role when Kachine Alexander, the team’s leading scorer, went down with an injury.
Wahlin averaged 17.7 points (.455 FG%, .420 3PT%, .917 FT%) in the seven games without Alexander. She also played an average of 37.6 minutes in those seven games.
LOGGING MAJOR MINUTES
Due to injuries, Iowa’s roster has been forced to play a large amount of minutes so far.
Three players have played over 30 minutes a game. Kamille Wahlin is playing 36.5 minutes per game, freshman Jaime Printy is at 31.8 minutes per contest and sophomore Kelly Krei is playing 31.7 minutes.
NEVER RIDING THE PINE
Sophomores Kelly Krei and Kamille Wahlin have both played all 40 minutes in back-to-back games this season.
Krei never left the court in consecutive games against Illinois State (Nov. 15) and Kansas (Nov. 18). Wahlin did the same against Boston College (Dec. 2) and Michigan (Dec. 6).
HAMLIN SIDELINED FOR THE SEASON
Senior JoAnn Hamlin is out for the season after having a blood clot removed from her right leg.
UNDERCLASSMEN CONTRIBUTING
Iowa’s freshmen and sophomore class are putting up big numbers for the Hawkeyes this season.
Hawkeye underclassmen are responsible for 89 percent of the teams’ points, 72 percent of rebounds, 88 percent of minutes played, 89 percent of assists, 86 percent of steals and 92 percent of blocks.
Iowa’s freshmen class alone are responsible for 6533 percent of the team’s points, 50 percent of rebounds, 51 percent of minutes played, 56 percent of assists, 51 percent of steals and 71 percent of blocks.
ALEXANDER NAMED CO-BIG TEN PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior Kachine Alexander was named co-Big Ten Player of the Week Nov. 16 after earning MVP honors at the KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge.
Alexander recorded double-doubles in each of Iowa’s first two games. She tied a Hawkeye Challenge tournament record by grabbing 18 rebounds (nine offensive, nine defensive), along with netting 19 points in Iowa’s season-opening win over Santa Clara. Both her 19 points and 18 rebounds were game highs.
Alexander followed on Sunday with a 21 point, 12 rebound (nine offensive, three defensive) performance in the championship game against Illinois State. Alexander was clutch down the stretch at the free-throw line, making 13-16 attempts from the charity stripe.
PRINTY NAMED BIG TEN FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK
Jaime Printy was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week, after her performances against William & Mary, West Virginia and Columbia.
Printy averaged 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists, as the Hawkeyes posted a 2-1 record last week. Printy recorded her first-ever 20-point game against William & Mary, adding nine rebounds with five assists. Against West Virginia in the first round of the Nugget Classic in Reno, Printy netted 16 points with four boards and five assists in the close, three-point loss. The Marion, IA, native scored Iowa’s first eight points against the Mountaineers, and made her first four shots, including a perfect 3-3 from distance.
Printy saved her best for last in Iowa’s win over Columbia. She scored 12 points with five rebounds and three assists in the thrilling win. Printy nailed a three-pointer with 52 seconds left to tie the game, giving Iowa a chance to win on its next possession.
WAHLIN ON ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAMS
Sophomore Kamille Wahlin was chosen to both the KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge and Nugget Classic all-tournament teams.
In the season-opening Hawkeye Challenge, Wahlin netted 13 points and added three rebounds.
She was clutch down the stretch in the championship against Illinois State, scoring seven points during Iowa’s crucial 12-2 run in the final three minutes of the second half to give the Hawkeyes the victory. Wahlin drained a three-pointer with 3:46 left to give Iowa a one-point lead (64-63). She then hit a jumper with 37 second left, extending Iowa’s lead to five points (70-65). Wahlin added two free throws on the next trip down the court to seal the win.
Wahlin scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished out five assists against West Virginia in the Nugget Classic. She followed with 18 points, including the game-winning three-pointer with 10 seconds left, to go along with three points and four assists against Columbia in the consolation game.
JOHNSON TIES SCHOOL RECORD
Freshman Morgan Johnson tied a school record with seven blocked shots against Northern Iowa (Nov 22). Johnson now holds the record with Jerica Watson (vs. Kent State, 12/8/01) and Tangela Smith (at Michigan State, 1/15/95). She currently ranks third in the Big Ten in blocks per game (2.75).
Johnson added 11 points and eight rebounds in the win.
HAWKEYES TIE FREE-THROW MARK
Iowa tied the school record for single-game free throw percentage, converting all 16 attempts against Columbia (1.000).
Freshman Morgan Johnson led the way, going 6-6. Sophomore Kamille Wahlin and freshman Theairra Taylor each went 4-4, while freshman Gabby Machado finished 2-2.
JOHNSON’S BIG GAME AGAINST COLUMBIA
Freshman Morgan Johnson recorded the first double-double of her career Saturday vs. Columbia.
Johnson finished with 18 points on 6-8 shooting, along with 12 rebounds (three offensive, nine defensive). Both numbers are career-highs.
CAREER DAY FOR WAHLIN
Sophomore Kamille Wahlin poured in a career-high 33 points against Northern Iowa. She also notched career highs in field goals made (11) and attempted (19), three-pointers made (6) and attempted (10) and free throws made (5) and attempted (6). Her five five three-pointers were just one shy of the school record.
Wahlin led Iowa’s second-half comeback with 21 points on 6-10 shooting, including 4-5 from three point range and all five free throws in the final half.
TAYLOR SHINES IN FIRST START
Fresh off her first significant action of the season at Northern Iowa, freshman Theairra Taylor made the most of her first-ever start as a Hawkeye.
Taylor poured in 16 points (7-15 FGs, 2-3 3PT FGs), along with nine rebounds, five assists, three blocks and a steal in 36 minutes of play in her first start Nov. 24 vs. William & Mary.
HOME GROWN HAWKEYES
Four Hawkeyes prepped in the state of Iowa. Those players are junior Kelsey Cermak (Norwalk), sophomore Kelly Krei (Iowa City) and freshmen Trisha Nesbitt (Ames) and Jaime Printy (Marion).
ON THE HORIZON
The Hawkeyes return to Big Ten play Dec. 28 when they travel to Penn State. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT).