Iowa City West junior Ally Disterhoft orally commited to the Hawkeye women’s basketball team on Monday night, and she will become a Hawkeye in the fall of 2013.
She joins Nebraska native Alexa Kastanek as members of the class; Kastanek committed in December.
Disterhoft was recruited by several schools, including Iowa State.
"I picked Iowa because I feel really comfortable with the coaching staff. They’re a great staff, but they are even better people," said Disterhoft, a lifelong resident of Iowa City. "The girls I know on the team have been very supportive, and my friends and family members will be close."
Disterhoft led West to the Class 4A state championship this past season while averaging 16.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game. She also earned first-team All-State honors.
Disterhoft started on varsity as a sophomore and averaged 15 points per game for the Women of Troy last year. She helped lead the team to a runner-up finish at the state tournament.
A 6-0 guard and 40.8 percent shooter from 3-point range, Disterhoft will presumably fit in well with coach Lisa Bluder’s offensive system. The Hawkeyes have become accustomed to generating offense on the perimeter over the last couple seasons.
"I know that I’ll probably be a shooting guard, so my goals are just to help the team whatever way I can on the offensive or defensive end," she said. "Basically, I’m just going to try fit in when needed and make an impact as best as I can."
West High head coach BJ Mayer had high praise for his latest Division-I recruit.
Mayer put Disterhoft on the varsity as a freshman, so he has had a front-row seat to witness Disterhoft’s rise in both her play on the hardwood and her maturity level.
"As a freshman, she wasn’t scoring a lot but [was] playing defense and making her teammates better," Mayer said. "This year, the more she scored, other teams tried to stop her a lot more. But she would do things defensively as well and find her open teammates. That ability to pick up everyone around her and make others better is what I noticed the most."
The recruiting process and number of offers increased rapidly after last season, Mayer said. But Iowa was almost always a step ahead in Disterhoft’s mind.
After all, she has always been in Iowa City and been around the Hawkeyes. And she was the young girl holding a basketball on the poster for the 2004-05 Iowa women’s basketball team.
"I grew up going to the Iowa games and going to basketball camps," Disterhoft said. "In the end, it turned out to be a no-brainer that Iowa was where I want to be."
— by Matt Cozzi
