Feb. 8, 2015
By DARREN MILLER
hawkeyesports.com
MADISON, Wis. — Samantha Logic has added her name beside the greats of college women’s basketball during her career, and Sunday the University of Iowa senior point guard could have been mentioned with Michelangelo, Rembrandt, and Picasso.
Logic scored a career-high 30 points on 12-of-18 shooting from the field, leading the No. 16 Hawkeyes to an 87-75 win over Wisconsin in front of 11,428 at the Kohl Center.
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“Sam Logic was really good — beside the (five) turnovers,” UI head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Her body control in transition going to the rim was a work of art.”
Iowa overcame a nine-point first-half deficit to record its 14th consecutive victory over the Badgers and seventh in a row in Madison. Logic, a native of Racine, Wisconsin, played her final regular-season game in her home state.
“To come back here to play in front of them is something special to me,” Logic said. “I’m ecstatic to play in front of them.”
The Hawkeyes (19-4 overall, 10-2 Big Ten) have won eight of their last nine games. Wisconsin falls to 8-14, 4-8.
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Logic scored 13 of her team’s first 17 points to begin a second half that saw Iowa shoot 58.6 percent from the field (17-of-29). While four Hawkeyes finished with at least 10 points, one of them wasn’t senior guard Melissa Dixon, who entered the game as Iowa’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game. Dixon finished with two points — free throws with 2:10 remaining in the game.
“If you would have told us going into this game that Melissa Dixon was going to score two points and we score 87 as a team, you would almost think you were crazy,” Bluder said.
UI senior center Bethany Doolittle compiled 18 points (7-of-11 field goals) with five steals, three blocked shots, and three assists. Sophomore guard Ally Disterhoft made 7-of-10 field goals and finished with 17 points and seven rebounds. Freshman guard Whitney Jennings added 10 points.
But the statistic line of the game belonged to Logic. She made 12-of-18 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws with seven rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
The Hawkeyes shot 56.9 percent from the field (33-of-58) and 81 percent from the line (17-of-21), including 9-of-9 from the line in the second half.
An advantage of Iowa gaining a 25-point lead with 8:44 to play was an opportunity for liberal substitutions. Freshman Chase Coley saw five minutes of court time, junior Claire Till and freshman Carly Mohns played four, freshman Christina Buttenham was in for two, and senior Kathryn Reynolds played one.
“It was good, we needed the opportunity for people to get into the game,” Bluder said. “Carly Mohns hasn’t played for a while, she gets four minutes in this game; Claire got four minutes, but she has been getting that. Chase got five minutes and it was nice to get her into this opportunity. Christina got a couple. It was nice to get a few more people in this game when we had the lead.”
Tessa Cichy led Wisconsin with 20 points and eight rebounds.
The Hawkeyes return to the road Thursday to play No. 19 Nebraska (17-6, 7-5) with an 8 p.m. (CT) start. Iowa defeated the Cornhuskers, 78-72 in overtime, on Jan. 26 in Iowa City. Nebraska has lost back-to-back road games — 46-43 at Rutgers on Thursday, and 59-47 at Maryland on Sunday.
“We know it is going to be a battle,” Bluder said. “I know they will have a great crowd and it should be an exciting basketball game. I was proud of the way we played the first time; now we have that monkey off our back when we did beat them once and we’re confident.”
