Hawkeyes pursue Hilton breakthrough

IOWA CITY — It's a perpetual storyline when Iowa faces Iowa State in women's basketball.

Carver or Hilton. Iowa City or Ames. Home team rules, and it's rarely close.

No. 19 Iowa (8-1) will try to break a nine-game losing streak at Hilton Coliseum on Friday, chasing its first win in Ames since 1989.

Tipoff is 7 p.m.

'Two years ago, I thought we had a pretty good opportunity, but we didn't come home with the win,' said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder. 'It's going to take complete focus.

'It's an amazing environment. Their fans come out. They show up.'

Always one of the biggest women's basketball home draws, the Cyclones (4-3) have played in front of paid attendances of more than 10,000 in both of their games at Hilton this season — and that was against Hampton and Southern University.

'The coaches and upperclassmen have told us a lot about Hilton,' said sophomore Whitney Jennings, who will play in the arena for the first time Friday. 'It has been a tough place for our coaches to win. We're all aware of that.'

The visiting team has not broken serve in this series since 2006, when ISU won at Carver, 80-74. None of the eight games since have been decided by fewer than eight points, with the home team prevailing each time.

This could be one of Iowa's best opportunities to break through. The Hawkeyes are 4-1 away from Carver (the loss was to a ranked George Washington squad) and 2-0 in true road tests.

That included a win at Virginia in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Dec. 2.

'We've played well on the road,' Bluder said. 'I think we're more relaxed on the road. There aren't the distractions.'

Seven Iowans will be involved in the game, three prominently.

Junior Ally Disterhoft leads the Hawkeyes at 16.1 points per game. She was Miss Iowa Basketball in 2013 at Iowa City West.

Redshirt sophomore Jadda Buckley (Mason City) leads the Cyclones in assists and is third in scoring at 11.3 points per game. Meredith Burkhall is the reigning Big 12 freshman of the week. She's from Des Moines Roosevelt.

Buckley scored 19 points in the teams' last meeting at Ames, an 83-70 ISU victory in 2013. Four current Hawkeyes — Disterhoft, Kali Peschel, Alexa Kastanek and Claire Till — played in that game.

'I remember it was loud, a crazy atmosphere,' Kastanek said. 'They're going to want to push the pace. We have to handle their defense, and we've got to stay composed. We're not going to hear everything, so we need to be looking to the bench for play calls.'

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