The Game Time league started on Wednesday, and after an impressive season with Iowa, Melissa Dixon started strong, leading her team to victory with a team-high 39 points while orchestrating a 83-54 win over Clark Anderson’s Sam Logic-less team.

Anderson’s team, playing without its best player and the co-GTL MVP from a year ago, jumped out to a 6-0 lead before Dixon, playing on Randy Larson’s team, had other thoughts and answered with a 3-pointer.

From there, both teams put on strong performances, but Larson’s team started to pull away during the middle of the first half and led 41-26 going into the break. During the second half, Larson’s team continued to build on a commanding lead over Anderson’s team and broke things open in the waning minutes to make the final score 83-54.

Dixon played an all-around game — she shot 14-of-26 from the floor including 6-12 from 3-point range. Zoe Dutchik, who guarded Dixon for most of the game, was worn down by the Iowa senior’s performance.

“She’s a very talented player; she can drive, she can shoot the 3, and it was pretty difficult,” Dutchik said. “I was tired by the end of the game; she’s a good player.”

Dixon was able to take charge and be a leader. Although the competition on the court was definitely formidable, it obviously wasn’t as strong as it would have been with Logic.

“Well, we were fortunate that the girl that would have guarded her very well, Sam Logic, wasn’t able to be here tonight, so it was an unusual night from that standpoint,” Larson said. “But I loved how she found people, we got two-thirds of our baskets either by her or by her finding somebody, and that was the right strategy when the girl who could guard her wasn’t here. I really liked how she got everybody involved.”

Larson’s team worked very efficiently in such a short time of getting to know one another. Dixon was able to move the ball very well to teammates Madalyn Welty, Anne Visser, Madi Meier, Emily Neff, and Hawkeye Carly Mohns.

Dixon said she followed the advice of her coach and didn’t focus so much on winning but instead doing some things the correct way. She said she plays in the league to focus more on her development.

“Yeah, it’s always fun, playing summer league Game Time; it’s a chance for freshmen to play some games before the season,” Dixon said. “It’s just fun to work on things we don’t normally get to work on.”