March 24, 2013
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Hey, University of Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder, how does it feel to win a women’s basketball game?
“Great.”
How does it feel to win at home?
“Special.”
How does it feel to win in the NCAA Tournament?
“Amazing.”
It was a great, special, amazing evening for the Hawkeyes on Sunday as they overcame a seven-point second half deficit to defeat Miami (Fla.) 69-53 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Mediacom Court inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Iowa improves to 21-12, Miami retires at 21-11. The victory snaps a string of three consecutive postseason losses for Iowa, which last one in the Big Dance against Rutgers in 2010.
During pregame, Miami head coach Katie Meier said the key to Iowa is sophomore point guard Samantha Logic. During postgame, she talked about jinxing the outcome. Logic scored a game-high 23 points (13 coming in the first half) with 11 rebounds and four assists. She made 8-of-14 field goals and 6-of-7 free throws.
“She was phenomenal,” Meier said of Logic.
Later, Meier credited Iowa’s guards because they “controlled the game, the whole game.”
That compliment included sophomore Melissa Dixon who scored all 13 of her points in the second half, including three 3-point field goals during a stretch of 97 seconds that turned a seven-point deficit into a three-point Hawkeye lead.
“They had two guards that had 36 points and we had two posts that had 30,” Meier said. “That was the game. Our two posts probably had to have more than 15 each for us to win it.”
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Miami was led by Shawnice Wilson and Morgan Stroman, who scored 15 points apiece with a combined 26 rebounds. Rebounding is where the Hurricanes held a 53-37 edge; the turnover battle was won by Iowa.
“I’m extremely happy that we have 16 turnovers and they have 24 turnovers,” Bluder said. “Coming in, we kept hearing defense, defense, and then we kind of turned the table on that as far as the turnover area.”
“Twenty-four turnovers and I didn’t see a press,” Meier said.
Both teams entered the game coming off a loss in their respective conference tournaments. Prior to that, both teams had won three of four games. The first-half box score was also similar: Miami led 28-27 and both teams shot in the low 30-percent range from the field.
At the break, Dixon had logged six minutes with no points, two fouls, and three turnovers.
“I was really rested going in the second half,” Dixon said to a room full of laughter. “(Miami) switched on a couple of the screens and allowed me to be open and my teammates made some good passes to me.”
It was a second-half performance that Meier said makes Dixon one of the more dangerous players coming off the bench in the country.
“She can come in cold, come off the bench cold, and strike you down,” Meier said.
Despite have a huge rebounding advantage, the Hurricanes converted 25 offensive rebounds into 17 points, while Iowa turned 14 offensive boards into 15 points.
“In the end, it wasn’t that much of an advantage for them,” Bluder said.
Meier called the second-chance production by her team “almost hideous.”
“You have to get those balls and you have to put them back in,” Meier said. “Twenty-five offensive rebounds has to be at least 25 points.”
Iowa shot 39.7 percent from the field (23-of-58) and made 5-of-11 3-point field goals. The Hawkeyes were 18-of-25 from the free throw line. Miami made 18-of-60 field goals (30 percent), 3-of-19 3-point field goals, and 14-of-26 free throws.
“I don’t sugarcoat much and I think it was a shockingly poor performance by us on the offensive end,” Meier said. “Just shockingly poor.”
Iowa’s victory means all six schools from the Big Ten Conference advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
“That’s tremendous with six teams in the final 32,” Bluder said. “We were the second-best rated conference in America and this kind of proves that. It has to be the best success that we have had in the NCAA Tournament for the Big Ten Conference — that’s tremendous.”
Iowa returns to action Tuesday, March 26, against No. 2 Notre Dame (32-1) in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Irish defeated Tennessee-Martin 97-64 in Sunday’s opener.
“I have not watched any film on them and I am probably the only person in America that has not seen them a whole lot on TV,” Bluder said. “They have been on TV in the Bluder house, but I have also been doing homework with my children and doing dishes and things like that when they are on, so I haven’t sat and analyzed them.”
Tuesday’s tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. (CT).
HAWKEYE QUICK-HITTERS
Iowa broke the school record for single-season assists with 523. The previous record of 514 was set during 2011-12.
Logic notched her 12th career double-double and her fourth of the season. It was her second 20-point game of the season and the fourth of her career. Logic scored a career-high 26 points at Purdue on Feb. 17, 2013, in her other 20-point game of the season.
Logic has record a double-double in each of her two career NCAA tournament games. She finished with 11 points and 11 assists against California last season.
Senior center Morgan Johnson collected 11 rebounds to post her 10th game with double-digit rebounds this season.
Iowa improved to 10-5 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in NCAA tournament games. The Hawkeyes are 3-5 as a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament.