The Iowa women’s basketball team hosted Robert Morris for its second game of the season, and though it had to work for it, came out on top for an 85-67 victory.

Melissa Dixon began the game with a deep 3, but Morris wasn’t going to let this game get away too quickly. With her offense looking relatively stagnant, Lisa Bluder called an early time-out with the score tied, 7-7.

Dixon hit another 3 out of the break, but Morris captured its first lead on a 3 of its own to go up 14-13.

“I thought this was a really good preseason game for us,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Robert Morris was good defensively, they were scrappy, they got up in us. It was good for us to have that type of pressure early in the year.”  

The Colonials put forth a valiant effort but not without plenty of physicality along the way. With 10 team fouls accrued before the 13-minute mark in the first half, the Hawkeyes began to maintain a slight advantage.

Kali Peschel, in particular, embraced the opportunity. She had 9 points and 4 rebounds midway through the half, and she was 3-3 from both the floor and the free-throw line as the Hawkeyes led 22-20.

The junior finished the half with 15 points, tied for a career high, to go along with 6 rebounds.

The Hawkeyes struggled to extend their lead past 5 for most of the half, however. Dixon hit a pair of 3s to end the half she started that gave Iowa a 42-31 lead going into halftime.

With her second trey with just under a minute remaining, Dixon became the 32nd player to score 1,000 points in Iowa women’s history.

The senior was flattered to join the record books but deflected the attention away to her teammates.

“It means a lot, but it all goes back to my teammates and this program in general,” Dixon said. “Everyone we play with is so unselfish and all about the team, and that’s what Iowa basketball is about.”

Peschel scored the first bucket of the second half to set a new career high, and then Dixon and Bethany Doolittle closed the door.

Dixon began the second half with 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting, 2-of-2 from 3, while Doolittle scored eight on 4-of-5 shooting.

Robert Morris closed the gap to 55-48 near the 11-minute mark, but after missing a wide-open 3-point opportunity, Sam Logic gathered a rebound and quickly outletted to Dixon for a fast-break lay-up and a foul.

Iowa largely rolled from that juncture, and eventually grew its lead to 21. The team moved to 2-0 with the victory.

Dixon led with 21 points, while Peschel finished with 19 points and 8 rebounds. Logic had 7 points, but led with 14 rebounds and 11 assists.

Peschel, who’s attempting to secure a starting spot, made a strong impression Sunday. With her added contribution, she believes the team is sitting pretty to begin the season.

“I think we’re definitely coming out a lot more intense than we have in the past here,” she said. “The team is focused, and we know what our goals are.”