Aug. 13, 2011
Iowa vs. BKZ Levice Photo Gallery
LEVICE, Slovakia — The University of Iowa women’s basketball team improved to 2-0 on its foreign tour with a 90-53 victory over BKZ Levice Saturday afternoon. All 11 players that saw action scored, led by Morgan Johnson’s game-high 25 points.
Johnson used her height advantage to finish 11-16 from the field along with eight rebounds in 22 minutes of play.
“Morgan had a big advantage inside and we used it tonight,” Head Coach Lisa Bluder said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get the ball inside at the right times when you have an advantage like that. Tonight we executed and Morgan played well.”
Johnson credited the solid play to her teammates getting her the ball in the right spots.
“I’ve got great teammates and everyone played well tonight,” Johnson said. “I was able to get passes up high and I just kept the ball up there and got to the basket.”
Iowa traveled by bus for approximately two hours from Bratislava to Levice for Saturday’s game. BKZ Levice finished second in the No. 2 division in Slovakia last season, and its head coach, Peter Kovacic, is the former Slovakia National Team Coach.
Kovacic was impressed by Iowa’s effort Saturday night.
“I thought the Iowa team played very well,” Kovacic said. “No. 12 (Morgan Johnson) was very hard to stop for us. I also thought your No. 22 (Samantha Logic) was the playmaker. Iowa has a very good team.” Logic was one point and one rebound shy of her second-straight double-double, finishing with nine points, nine rebounds and five assists.
Fellow freshman Virginia Johnson grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and also chipped in seven points. Johnson said mental adjustments helped her play a bigger role in the second game of the trip.
“It felt a lot better tonight,” Johnson said. “I caught up with the pace of the game. Everyone else plays so aggressive and I had to improve my level of play. The game is so physical in Europe and I had to be more assertive.”
Kamille Wahlin and Kathryn Reynolds combined for nine assists and no turnovers Saturday and Jaime Printy had 12 points, three rebounds and three assists.
The Hawkeyes never trailed in the game and led by as many as 43 points in the fourth quarter. Bluder was pleased with the mental attitude her team held throughout the contest.
“I’m proud that we kept up our intensity,” Bluder said. “It’s August, we are on the road and it would have been easy to let up with a big lead. We kept working hard on defense and on the glass. We hustled for fast breaks and got points off the break.”
The Hawkeyes leave Bratislava Sunday morning and will bus to Vienna, Austria. Iowa will spend Sunday and Monday in Vienna before flying to Paris. Iowa’s third and final game will be in Paris Friday.