Nov. 29, 2013
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CANCUN, Mexico — Live by the sword or die by the sword.
For Boston College – the opponent for Lisa Bluder’s University of Iowa women’s basketball team Friday on the second day of the 2013 Cancun Challenge – that was the choice with one exception: When the three’s stopped falling for the Eagles, they didn’t plan on them starting to fall for Bluder’s Bunch.
But that’s what happened for the Hawkeyes, who found just enough offense in the second half on Saturday night to top BC, 78-68, to improve to 7-1 in 2013-14.
The Eagles outshot the Hawkeyes, had more three-point goals, and the same number of rebounds. But the Hawkeyes made seven more free throws and forced 17 turnovers en route to their second victory in as many nights during their Thanksgiving getaway.
Five Hawkeyes reached double-digits in the scoring column including guard Melissa Dixon who paced the Hawkeyes with 17 points, 15 coming from behind the arc. She was also credited with five assists. Kali Peschel and Bethany Doolittle each added 15, and Samantha Logic and Theairra Taylor 10 apiece.
Ally Disterhoff led Iowa with seven rebounds. She also added six points.
Iowa outscored BC 23-13 in the game’s final 8:10 after Peschel tied the game at 55-all with a free throw. Two three-pointers by Dixon and a third by Disterhoff pushed the Hawkeyes’ margin to 68-61 and the UI never looked back.
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BC used the three-point bucket to make this a contest: The Eagles made nine of their 18 attempts from behind the arc. Iowa, meanwhile, made just eight of 25 – four in each half.
Iowa overcame some very poor shooting and some white-hot shooting by BC from behind the arc to take a 36-34 lead into intermission. The Hawkeyes shot just 39 percent from the field and sank only four of 15 attempts from behind the arc during the first 20 minutes. BC was good on five of seven three-point attempts and shot better than 50 percent from the field in the opening stanza.
Iowa was paced by Dixon’s nine points and received another eight from Doolitte off the bench.
Boston College, which never had a lead during the first 20 minutes, shot 54 percent from the field and made five of eight three-point attempts. Two of the three pointers came from Kelly Hughes, who came off the bench to spark the Golden Eagles’ offense. BC was led in scoring in the first half by Lauren Engeln. The guard had nine points.
The game was very sloppy early. At the 12-minute timeout with the Hawkeyes leading 14-8 thanks to a layup by Alexa Kastanek, Iowa was shooting just 37 percent from the field and had made just two of eight attempts from behind the arc. Boston College wasn’t much better; the Golden Eagles had made just four of 10 field goal attempts. Both teams had also combined for seven turnovers.
Iowa closes out its trip to south of the border on Saturday with a 7:30 p.m. CT date against North Carolina-Wilmington. The Hawkeyes’ next home game is Thursday, Dec. 5, against Syracuse in the annual Big Ten-ACC Shootout. That game will tip shortly after 6 p.m. CT.