By Blake Dowson | [email protected]
Ally Disterhoft huddled with the rest of her teammates at center court after the Hawkeyes’ game against Washington State, and blew the crowd a kiss for the final time after her team came up short, 74-66, in a WNIT semifinal contest.
It was the end of the most decorated Hawkeye career there has ever been — she ends her career as the program’s all-time leading scorer, as well as the two-time Academic All-American of the Year. All in all, Disterhoft is simply the epitome of what a coach wants in a player.
Disterhoft had another classic game, one of consistency. She ended with 16 points, 5 rebounds, along with a block, assist, and steal.
It looked like her effort, along with a 6-point first quarter effort from Megan Gustafson, would be enough to tame the surging Cougars.
But the Cougars’ tenacity could not be met, and they eventually took the lead for good late in the second quarter.
“Washington State turned up its defensive intensity a little bit,” Disterhoft said in a release. “They got a lot of offensive rebounds, and when a team is offensive rebounding like that, and we’re struggling to hit some of our shots, it’s kind of tough.”
Rebounding has long been an issue for this Hawkeye team. Other than Gustafson, who set the single season rebounding record for Iowa this season, rebounding is rather thin on the roster. Even Disterhoft, who has always held her own in that department, is undersized compared with most forwards in the game.
Gustafson ended the game with a team-high 19 points, and freshman Kathleen Doyle joined both her and Disterhoft in double figures with 11. Alexa Kastanek, who scored 19 points in Iowa’s latest win over Colorado in the tournament, scored only 1 point from the free-throw line in her final college game.
With a guard-heavy lineup, and a number of forwards who can also step out and shoot the 3 ball, the Hawkeyes rely on that shot. Unfortunately, it let them down on Sunday against Washington State, going just 4-of-23 from behind the arc.
Three of those makes came in the first quarter, which Iowa came out of with a 20-17 lead. It was mostly Cougars after that, however.
“The first quarter was nice, and then after that, [Washington State’s] defense really disrupted us,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in a release. “We had trouble boxing out, and we gave up too many offensive boards and too many second shots for them.”
The Hawkeyes now head into the off-season with a similar outlook as the men’s team. The senior leader, Disterhoft, is gone now, but a bunch of young talent remains.
Doyle set the freshman assist record this season, set previously by former WNBA first-round pick Sam Logic, Gustafson proved herself a star in not only the conference but across the country, and the team gets Tania Davis back at the beginning of next season.
Disterhoft always allowed herself to just be part of the offense, never hunting shots on her own. But with her now gone, the offense will presumably become even more balanced.
The Hawkeyes of next year will have a lot of familiar faces. But they will be the new-look Hawkeyes. That’s how it goes when you lose a program giant such as Disterhoft.
The team will not be starting from scratch, however. Next year’s team will be ready to go.