Sweet finish for Hawk seniors

IOWA CITY - A perfect 16-0 at home. Now the 16th-ranked Iowa women's basketball team turns its focus to March and an even sweeter 16.

Melissa Dixon scored 27 points on eight 3-pointers and Samantha Logic added 24 points and 13 assists in a 92-76 win over Minnesota on Sunday's Senior Day for a school-record 16th home win.

A season-best 9,726 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena watched Iowa's four seniors - Logic, Dixon, Bethany Doolittle and Kathryn Reynolds - collect their 90th win and exit as the winningest senior class in 21 years.

'It's a storybook ending,” Logic said. 'I wouldn't change it for the world.”

Doolittle, an Oakdale, Minn., native, had 12 points, 12 rebounds and a school-record nine blocks for the Hawkeyes (23-6, 14-4), who avenged a 93-80 loss to the Gophers from two weeks ago.

Iowa earned the No. 2 seed and a double-bye in this week's Big Ten Tournament in Chicago. It will play Nebraska or Illinois in a quarterfinal game on Friday night.

Coach Lisa Bluder substituted the seniors one-by-one at the end of the game so each received their own ovation.

Logic played 39 minutes and finished with 10-plus assists for the 10th time this season.

Dixon, the school's all-time 3-point leader, hit three straight 3s on the heels of a Minnesota run in the middle of the second half. The Gophers had cut the deficit to 60-55, but Dixon's bomb barrage pushed the lead back to double digits.

'My teammates did such a great job finding me in the gaps of the zones,” said Dixon, who made 8-of-11 shots from deep.

Doolittle helped slow down Minnesota star Amanda Zahui B., who torched the Hawkeyes for career-high 39 points and 29 rebounds on Feb. 17.

Zahui B. finished with 22 points and 21 rebounds on Sunday, but Doolittle kept her off the scoreboard for the first 8½ minutes and added four steals to her nine blocks.

Reynolds, a first-year law student who has battled knee injuries, hit a 3-pointer in the final minute of the game. Reynolds fired the shot up as Bluder tried to get a referee's attention for a timeout.

'I almost blew it for her,” Bluder said. 'It's the one time I'm glad (the refs) didn't hear me.

Shae Kelly had a game-high 29 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Gophers (22-8, 11-7).

Iowa's performance in the conference tournament this weekend could assure it more home games.

The Hawkeyes will host the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament if the committee selects them as one of the top 16 teams. ESPN projected Iowa as a No. 3 seed going into last week.

'I got a little sad thinking about this as the last time they're in Carver, but I don't think that's true,” Bluder said of the seniors. 'They'll be back.”

Iowa hasn't advanced to the Sweet 16 since 1996. A top seed, two home games and a prolific senior class could be just the right right formula.

'The best is yet to come,” Reynolds told the crowd after the game. 'Here we go.”