The Iowa women’s basketball team will open its regular season Friday.
By Mario Williams
Hawkeyes fans, get ready, the day is almost near.
The Iowa women’s basketball team will open the regular season Friday against North Dakota as part of the Hawkeye Challenge in Carver-Hawkeye at 6 p.m.
Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder and her team met with members of the media Wednesday.
Iowa signed four
Bluder opened her Wednesday session to discuss the signings of four highly ranked players set to join to Hawkeyes next season. The quartet is ranked 17th nationally by Blue Star Basketball, just a number down from Iowa’s current freshman class.
Bre Cera and Makenzie Meyer lead the way. They’re both ranked as the 83rd-best prospects nationally but on different recruiting sites. Meyer is also ranked as the 23rd-best point guard.
Cera, a native of Mukwonago, Wisconsin, is her high school’s all-time leading scorer. In her sophomore season, she was named Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel prep athlete of the week. She also led her team to a trio of top three conference finishes.
Alexis Sevillian will join former teammate freshman Tania Davis when she begins her season as a Hawkeye as well.
All four athletes who signed will definitely fill specific roles Iowa will need down the road.
“We’re excited about signing day,” Bluder said. “It’s nice to be able to finally have it officially that they are Iowa Hawkeyes.”
Defending Carver
Last season, Iowa finished undefeated in Carver-Hawkeye. Of course, its goal is to attain a “W,” but it won’t be an easy one.
“It’s important for the team to know that this is a great place to play, and it’s a hard place for our opponents to play,” Bluder said. “I want our players to have the confidence of knowing that.”
North Dakota is looking to fight. The squad returns its leading scorer, Mia Loyd, a Big Sky preseason player of the year, and three starters.
North Dakota also has a 6-6 center whose defensive and offensive presence will be huge against the Hawkeyes. Bluder finds it interesting to see how the inside players will play against North Dakota’s, Stephanie Smith.
After its exhibition game, Bluder thought the team excelled well at pushing the ball, crashing rebounds, and having four athletes in double figures. The head coach said the team also wouldn’t make major adjustments after Sunday’s matchup.
“We kind of have a system that we believe in, and we just need to keep improving at that system,” Bluder said.
Freshman impact
Davis and Megan Gustafson made big impressions on the court early against Upper Iowa on Sunday.
Gustafson led all scorers, posting double figures on the stat sheet. The Port Wing, Wisconsin, native was 7-of-10 from the field, scoring 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Davis added 14 points and led in assists with 7.
Iowa junior Alexa Kastanek is impressed by how the two have adapted to the Iowa offense.
“They both bring a great positive energy on and off the court,” Kastanek said. “Megan’s got great hustle, and Tania knows how to take it to the hoop and really knows how to run our offense.”
The freshmen will most likely see more playing time in the team’s home-opener, and Davis believes the exhibition game gave her confidence for Friday.
“I’m more excited to play on Friday than I was on Sunday because it actually counts for something,” Davis said. “That one turnover I had, let’s cut down to zero, make it 8 assists instead of 7, and keep being a floor general out there like I did on Sunday.”