The Iowa women’s basketball downs Virginia to improve to 7-1.
By Mario Williams
The Iowa women’s basketball team continues to make its mark on the road.
Competing in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge against Virginia, Iowa downed the Cavaliers in Charlottesville, 85-73.
“I am so proud of our women,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. “We looked in control the whole time. I really liked the way our team came out and played today.”
For much of the first quarter, it was a back-and-forth battle between the two opponents. Virginia’s Breyana Mason got the momentum going early, downing shots from behind the arc. Iowa answered with a few, too.
Once the second quarter came around, the Hawkeyes took an early 9-point lead, its largest of the first half. The Cavaliers weren’t able to connect on many of their shots from the field, and that gave Iowa lots of open looks in transition.
The majority of these looks came from junior Alexa Kastanek, who led all scorers with 22 points and 4-of-7 from behind the arc.
“It’s just really whenever my teammates get me open, whatever the offense is giving me,” Kastanek said. “They were giving us open shots, and they were giving us open lay-ups, and that’s just what we took. I just stepped up and made them myself.”
Iowa fed off Kastanek’s hot performance, which got the team rolling entering halftime. At the half, Iowa was shooting 50 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from downtown, and it had out-rebounded Virginia 16-12.
Bluder wanted to make sure entering this contest that her team would improve on rebounding. The Hawkeyes had struggled with that while on the road, and the head coach was impressed with the efforts Wednesday night, with Iowa out-rebounding Virginia offensively and defensively. The team also tallied 17 assists, which Bluder had also wanted to see.
“Tonight was just some really beautiful unselfish plays tonight,” she said. “That kind of gets us back to the ‘Iowa’ basketball we love to see. Just making that one more pass for that wide-open shot.”
Iowa stretched its lead to 13 in the third quarter, which effectively put the game out of reach of the Cavaliers. The Hawkeyes played good transition defense and kept Virginia from getting good looks.
Along with Kastanek, junior Ally Disterhoft and freshman Tania Davis also scored in double figures. Freshman Megan Gustafson matched her career high in the first quarter with 3 blocks and finished the night with 5.
Iowa shot 52.7 percent from the field and roped in 36 rebounds.
The Hawks will return home on Dec. 6 to compete against Robert Morris.
“Coach Bluder talked before the game about how we wanted to get back to ‘Iowa basketball,’” Disterhoft said. “I really think that today we came out and did that. That’s just fun to play like that, fun to watch that, and that’s what we’re all about.”