The new-look Hawkeye women’s basketball team will tip off the 2015-16 season at home with an echibition against Upper Iowa onNov. 8.
The game will start at 2 p.m. in Carver Hawkeye.
Upper Iowa finished last season with a 7-20 record, going 2-3 in nonconference games and 5-17 against their division II opponents in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
Iowa finished last seasn with an overall record of 26-8, 14-4 in in the Big Ten. The Hawks were undefeated in Carver-Hawkeye.
Although last year’s won-loss record favors Iowa this weekend, major losses on offense may slow the team down in the long run.
The Hawkeyes waved goodbye to seniors Melissa Dixon, Bethany Doolittle, and Sam Logic, who accounted for more than half of the team’s scoring last season.
The loss of the seniors might have lowered expectations for the Hawkeyes, and many observers don’t expect them to make it back to the Sweet 16.
But the Hawkeyes’ outlook hasn’t changed from last season to this season.
“It’s a new year, and it happens every year,” junior Ally Disterhoft said. “We’re working with the people we have, and so internally, our expectations do not change. We have set the bar high, and we’re going to keep it there, and it doesn’t change with whom we graduate.”
Disterhoft put up some impressive statistics on offense for the Hawkeyes last season. She averaged 15.0 points a game, with 50 assists and 14 steals.
The freshman class will also contribute. Although the incoming freshmen won’t replace the seniors of last season, they bring their own game.
“Tania [Davis]can definitely shoot the 3,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Sam wasn’t a very good 3-point shooter as a freshman, but she was a decent 3-point shooter by the time she left our program. Tania probably comes in a better 3-point shooter than Sam, and I want her to continue to make those advances that Sam made, too.”
Davis was named Michigan Miss Basketball by the Basketball Coaches Association and *Detroit Free Press* after last season, and she led her high-school team to two Class B state titles as freshman and sophomore along with a regional final and semifinal in her junior and senior years.
Despite all skepticism the team has faced with the absence of last year’s senior class, the team is ready to play basketball.
“We’ve heard so much about the media saying we’ve lost so much,” senior Kali Peschel said. “At this point, we’re just ready to get out there and play games.”
Where: Carver-Hawkeye