Aug. 18, 2015
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By JIL PRICE
TRIESTE, Italy — After a sluggish first half, the University of Iowa women’s basketball team rebounded to record a dominant, 91-47, victory over Asd Pallacanestro Muggia (APM). It is the second straight #ItalianTour victory for the Hawkeyes.
“The second half was great, we held them to 16 points,” 16th-year head coach Lisa Bluder said. “In the first half we were tired and a little slow getting into it. We’ve been walking around a lot.
“We really challenged them at halftime, and we did a lot better with our defense and our fundamentals. I’m really happy because they responded with great energy and took care of business here.”
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Improved defense and taking high percentage shots keyed the win for Iowa in the second half. After scoring 36 points in the first half, the Hawkeyes netted 55 in the final 20 minutes of play.
“We took all the wind out of their sails with really good defense and then we were able to get our transition game going,” Bluder added. “I thought we were settling in the first half for lower percentage shots. In the second half we were moving the ball, getting higher percentage threes, and getting the ball inside more against their zone.”
A big contributor in the inside for the Hawkeyes was freshman Megan Gustafson, who logged 13 points and five rebounds off the bench.
“I think Megan will get more and more confident as things go on,” Bluder said. “She understands that we want her to be effective and we want her to shoot the ball. She works hard down there, seals so well, and I feel like we can get high percentage shots from her. She did that in the second half and credit her teammates for getting her the ball.”
Junior Ally Disterhoft recorded the team’s first double-double of the trip, with 12 points and 12 rebounds.
“I’m happy to see Ally scoring in different ways,” Bluder said. “Sometimes it’s just three-point shots or the drive. Tonight she wasn’t really scoring off the drives, she was posting up and getting offensive rebounds. It is nice to see her diversifying her game.”
Also reaching double figures in scoring were sophomore Whitney Jennings (16) and junior Alexa Kastanek. For the second game of the Italian Tour, all 12 available Hawkeyes logged minutes.
Iowa is back on the hardwood for the second time in two days on Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 12 p.m. (CT) against TK Hannover, a German Club. TK Hannover is the most talented team the Hawkeyes will face on it’s #ItalianTour, and they are ready for the challenge.
“It’s going to be a quick turnaround and the best competition we’re going to face is tomorrow,” Bluder said. “This is a team that beat Boston College recently, so it’s a good basketball team. It’s our last game, and we want to put everything together against our best competition.”
Follow @IowaWBB on Twitter for in-game updates. For additional coverage of the #ItalianTour, including daily blogs, photo galleries, and video content, visit hawkeyesports.com.
