It might be the first game, but North Dakota won’t be an easy win.
By Rod Engblom
The Iowa women’s basketball team will tip off the regular season today against North Dakota as part of the annual Hawkeye Challenge.
The Hawkeyes will try to extend a home winning streak that started last season with an 18-0 home record.
“Our players are ready,” head coach Lisa Bluder said. “Obviously, Carver was a great place for us last year going 18-0, and we want to keep that undefeated record going as long as we can. “
In nonconference games, the Hawkeyes only lost one game at an away arena while losing three at neutral locations a season ago.
While the team has traditionally been strong and confident at home, the Hawks aren’t considering North Dakota as an easy win. “They’re going to play inspired,” Bluder said. “They’re coming here to play at Iowa, and that’s a big circle on their schedule. Anytime a mid-major team gets the opportunity to play a power conference team, it’s a star on the schedule. It’s an opportunity for them to knock somebody down.”
North Dakota returns its highest scoring player of last season, Mia Loyd, who was named preseason player of the year of the Big Sky Conference.
North Dakota finished with a 17-15 record last season, going 9-9 in conference games.
North Dakota is also a team that the Hawkeyes don’t see very often.
“They’re going to be a challenge in what we see because we’re not playing against each other,” junior Alexa Kastanek said. “It’s going to be a challenge to see someone new and be able to put a defense out against them.”
Last week’s preseason game against Upper Iowa helped to prep the team, especially the freshmen.
“It definitely helped me to get a game under my belt,” freshman Tania Davis said. “Just to get the feel of the crowd and get the feel of an NCAA game helped me to understand what an NCAA game is like when I’m actually playing in it.”
Davis’s main goal is to stay positive on the court and not let little mistakes bring her down. She also wants to minimize the mistakes that she makes on the court.
Starting the routine of playing in the regular season may also be helpful in breaking the preseason jitters for the team as well.
“I’m more excited to play on Friday than I was on Sundaybecause it actually counts for something,” Davis said. “Now that they count, they’ll mean a lot more to me a lot more to the fans, the players, and the coaches so once we go out there and work hard, we’ll be fine.”
While North Dakota isn’t a Big Ten team, it still has some size and will be a challenge to the Hawkeyes.
“They’re a good team,” Bluder said. “They play hard, they’re a good defensive team they have a 6’6’’ center who is a junior college transfer so that’ll be nice to see for our inside players to go against somebody like that.“
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