Iowa found themselves reaching deep on their bench for help after both Bethany Doolittle and Claire Till both had early fouls, but Iowa still defeated the Stony Brook Seawolves 78-40.
“This is one of those game’s we were waiting for as far as the change in officiating,” Lisa Bluder said, “ We were kind of dreading and it came to fruition tonight.”
Doolittle picked up two fouls within the first six minutes of the game and didn’t see action until the start of the second half, that required Iowa to go to freshman walk-on Hailey Schneden for nine minutes of action in which she had 2 points, 1 block and 1 rebound.
The flow of the game in general was very out of sync for both teams as a total of 46 foul constantly stopped the game.
“What has me concerned is there’s no consistency across the board with that (fouls) and that’s hard for the players to adjust and it leaves your players on the bench for long stretches of time.” Bluder said.
From early on Iowa used it’s size and speed to get inside, specifically with Ally Disterhoft and Theairra Taylor. Taylor, the lone senior on the team, took the ball to the rim for 10 first half points.
Disterhoft was as efficient as usual, going 6-of-8 on field goals and totaled 17 points, leading Iowa in scoring.
“Ally shot the ball extremely well and was our leading rebounder as well.” Bluder said.
Disterhoft kept the team’s offensive flow in check beginning in the second quarter with an easy streaking basket. From then on out it was all Iowa who outscored the Seawolves 42-19 in the second half.
Schneden had more minutes in today’s contest against the Seawolves than all of her combined minutes so far this season. She entered the game in the first half when Doolittle and Till both had two fouls.
“She’s had to step in and play a considerable amount and some of that was in the first half in crunch time.”
Schneden played well in her nine minutes, but Bluder mentioned that it was not an “ideal” situation playing a freshman walk-on in crunch time games. Bluder was concerned about the consistency of the officiating and the effect it would have on her very short bench.
Taylor was happy with the bench effort today who scored 33 of the Hawkeyes 78 points today citing that they stepped up when needed for the team.
“It’s awesome, we have a lot of trust in all of our teammates.” Taylor said.
Iowa now will not play a home game for two weeks and start their road trip by traveling to play the Colorado Buffaloes. This is the Hawkeyes first road game of the season and their first road game against a ranked opponent.
“Any time you get a ranked opponent it builds momentum and it builds confidence for your team.” Bluder said.
The Buffaloes are 2-0 with victories over Colorado State and Alcorn State, they currently sit at No. 17 in the AP poll.
In last weeks game’s Iowa outscored their opponents 154-78
Performance of the game: Freshman G, Ally Disterhoft
- 17 points (led team)
- 9 rebounds (led team)
- 75 percent from the field
- 28 minutes (led team)
Next Seven Days:
- 11/20 at No. 17 Colorado (Pac-12 Network) 9:30 CT
- 11/24 at UNI (Radio only) 2:00 PM CT
