Nov. 4, 2012
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Sophomore Melissa Dixon’s 28 point-performance propelled the University of Iowa women’s basketball team to an 86-51 exhibition victory over Quincy (Ill.) on Sunday on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Dixon made 10-of-17 shot attempts, including 7-of-11 3-pointers, en route to her 28-point performance. Dixon’s 3-point prowess would have tied a school record for long balls in a single game and set the Iowa record for triples inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena, but the stats don’t count due to the exhibition status.
“We shot the ball well, especially Melissa,” said UI head coach Lisa Bluder. “It’s fun when she gets on a roll like that, and everybody feeds off of that.”
Dixon was one of three Hawkeyes in double figures along with sophomore Samantha Logic and senior Morgan Johnson, who netted 13 and 12 points, respectively. Logic also had seven rebounds and seven assists, while Johnson had a team-high nine rebounds. Eleven Iowa players saw action in the game with nine scoring at least two points.
After taking an 18-point lead (38-20) into halftime, the Hawkeyes scored 12 of the first 18 points to build a 50-26 advantage three minutes into the second half. Dixon nailed consecutive 3-pointers to make the score 46-24 before back-to-back layups by Johnson and Logic pushed the lead to 24.
With Iowa leading 54-30 with 14:11 remaining, Quincy’s Lucy Cramsey and Dixon went back-and-forth on six straight possessions. Cramsey opened with a jumper at the 13:38 mark before Dixon answered with a long ball 16 seconds later.
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The same sequence occurred two more times with Dixon’s 3-pointer at the 11:56 — her seventh of the game — extending the Hawkeye lead to 63-36. It concluded a streak of six straight makes for the sophomore, including five triples.
Iowa stretched the advantage to 29 points on a Kali Peschel layup at the 2:55 mark before freshman Claire Till drained a 3-pointer with 2:39 remaining to push the margin to 32 (79-47). The Hawkeyes built their biggest lead at 86-51 with 37 seconds left on a three-point play by freshman Nicole Smith.
“We kept our intenstiy,” said Bluder. “Sometimes that can go down, especially since this (game) doesn’t count and you’re putting everybody in. It’s nice to see we maintained the intensity and focus the whole 40 minutes.”
Iowa shot 51.5 percent from the floor for the game, converting 34-of-66 field goal attempts. The Hawkeyes made 10-of-25 3-pointers, and held a 39-33 advantage on the boards and a 36-18 edge in points in the paint. The team also had 24 assists on its 34 makes to go along with 14 steals.
“We love assists,” said Bluder. “To me, assists are team basketball. Assists are going are going to give us higher percentage shots, because if you’re getting good assists, that means you’re usually passing to somebody who is open.”
The Hawkeyes started out slow, clinging to a 13-12 lead midway through the first half. Iowa closed out the opening stanza with a 25-8 run to bring a 38-20 advantage into the locker room. Dixon opened the run with a 3-pointer at the 9:57 mark to make the score 16-12.
Iowa pushed its lead to 20-14 with 7:35 on the clock on a Logic jumper before scoring on three consecutive possessions to stretch its advantage to 26-14. The Hawkeyes then scored 11-of-the-final-14 points over the final four minutes to turn a 29-16 lead into an 18-point lead.
Iowa shot 51.6 percent (16-of-31) from the floor in the first half after dominating the action around the basket, holding a 20-4 edge in points in the paint.
The Hawkeyes open the regular season Nov. 9, hosting Northern Illinois at 5:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Preseason WNIT.
“We need to work on coming out of the gate a little bit harder,” said Johnson. “That’s something we need to take care of and rebounding a little bit more. If we get those two things and continue to work on that three offense, I feel like we’ll be a great team on Friday.”