Wolverines Shock No. 13 Iowa, 60-53

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Jan. 2, 2011

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PARDON OUR PROGRESS! As friends of the University of Iowa and fans of the Hawkeyes know, the UI Athletics Department is well into a multi-million dollar revitalization of Carver-Hawkeye Arena. This important and exciting project has reduced for this season the number of ticket windows that are operational on game nights. Fans attending the home events of the 2010-11 UI men’s basketball, women’s basketball and wrestling teams are invited to avoid game night delays by purchasing their event tickets online or in advance of game day. If your schedule doesn’t allow for an advance purchase, we recommend you consider arriving at the Arena a little earlier than originally planned. Go Hawks!

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Here’s the good news: Iowa attempted 65 field goals and outrebound Michigan 46-38 on Sunday in women’s basketball inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Not only that, but the Hawkeyes held the Wolverines to 39.2 percent shooting and turned the ball over just 12 times.

Now for the bad news: Iowa only made 19 of those 65 shots from the floor, allowed 28 points in the paint and dropped its Big Ten Conference home-opener, 60-53, to a Michigan team that sits with a surprising 2-0 record in the league (9-5 overall). The Hawkeyes are 12-3, 0-2.

“Unfortunately this was a tough one for us today,” UI head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We couldn’t buy a bucket. Our defense was good, our rebounding was good, we took care of the ball, we did a lot of things on that end, but if you can’t score points, it’s hard to win a basketball game and today we just couldn’t score points, whether it was on penetration or whether it was on the open 3s, so even at the free throw line we shot well below our average. Tough way to start the Big Ten 0-2; I really didn’t see this coming. I thought we had two really good practices leading up to this game, but again, it’s hard to make things run when you can’t score baskets and we’re struggling right now.”

After the first 6:10 of the game, the score was tied, 5-5, and Michigan head coach Kevin Borseth compared the game to a soccer match.

“It seemed like it was 5-5 forever,” he said. “It was a great win for us. Iowa has a great program and obviously we had to play hard to win this game.”

The Hawkeyes attempted 28 3-point field goals, making six.

“We need to be more confident. Everyone on the team needs to get in the gym on our days off and get more shots up,” UI sophomore Jaime Printy said. “It’s a big part of our offense and we can’t just stop shooting. We have to keep shooting, so eventually they have to fall.”

Printy led Iowa in scoring with 18 points. She made 6 of 25 field goals and 4 of 15 3-point field goals.

Hawkeye sophomore center Morgan Johnson made 5 of 10 field goals and finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots. She was to be a focal point of Iowa’s offense in the second half.

“We wanted to get the ball inside. We thought we could,” Bluder said. “Morgan shot the best of anyone on our team, so we want to get the ball in there to Morgan and now they’re collapsing on our 3-point shooters, so it’s getting harder to get the ball in there, too.”

Iowa point guard Kamille Wahlin, who had scored in double figures 12 times during the Hawkeye’s first 14 games, scored just two in 22 minutes Sunday. She was 1 of 11 from the field (0 of 6 from 3-point) with four turnovers.

“Who would have thought your point guard would have had the night she had,” Borseth said.

It was one of those games for Wahlin, who was not ill or suffering an injury.

“She wasn’t playing well,” Bluder said. “Nothing was wrong with her, she just wasn’t contributing — was hurting us we thought when she was in so we went with a different lineup.”

Iowa corralled 19 offensive rebounds with Kachine Alexander grabbing seven of those to boost her game-high rebounding total to 15. She also scored nine points with two assists.

“Have you ever tried to guard Kachine Alexander,” Borseth asked. “Dennis Rodman would have a tough time guarding Kachine Alexander.”

Michigan was led by three players in double figures: Courtney Boylan (18), Jenny Ryan (15) and Veronica Hicks (11).

Kelly Krei brought life to the Hawkeyes — and the arena — by draining a 3-point field goal from the right baseline with 8:14 left, cutting Michigan’s lead to six (45-39). That drew an immediate timeout from Borseth. Iowa forced a defensive stop, but Alexander couldn’t convert on the offensive end; Michigan responded with a conventional three-point play by Carmen Reynolds and the deficit shot back up to nine at 48-39.

The Hawkeyes continued clawing back, but the game clock turned into an adversary as well. Printy made a 3-pointer to pull Iowa within 54-47, but only 4:02 remained. After another stop, Printy drove to the hoop, but was whistled for a charge with 3:28 left. Krei again breathed life into the Hawkeyes, converting a conventional three-point play that whittled the Wolverine lead to four (54-50) with 1:51 to go. Iowa would get no closer.

The Hawkeyes shot 22.6 percent from the field in the first half and was behind 26-21 at the break. Despite the difficulties from the field, Iowa didn’t trail for the first 18-minutes, 10-seconds.

Iowa returns to action Wednesday, Jan. 5, at Minnesota. Tipoff is 7 p.m. from Williams Arena. Iowa is back at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, Jan. 8, for a nationally televised game against Ohio State beginning at 3 p.m.