By James Kay
The Iowa women’s basketball team was unable to pull out a win in its Big Ten opener, falling to Illinois, 70-65.
Senior captain Ally Disterhoft had a double-double despite struggling from the field (4-of-13). She had 11 points to go along with 12 rebounds. Freshman Kathleen Doyle also had a nice game with 12 points and 6 assists.
Sophomore Megan Gustafson put on a strong performance with 21 points while pulling down 13 rebounds. She recorded her eighth double-double of the season.
The Hawkeyes (9-5) missed a whopping 35 shots while turning the ball over 23 times.
“This is not the way we wanted to start the [Big Ten] season by any means,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in a release. “Our defensive intensity was really low, especially to begin the game.”
The Hawkeyes will return to Carver-Hawkeye on New Year’s Eve; they will take on Nebraska at 2 p.m.