Drake-Iowa: Expect a lot of points, again

IOWA CITY — Most years, the mythical state championship for women's basketball would have been decided by now.

The home team of the Iowa-Iowa State game would have held serve, both teams would have handled their mid-major rivals, and that would have been that.

This year, it's Drake in the driver's seat.

With a win over ISU already in their pocket, the Bulldogs (7-3) invade Carver-Hawkeye Arena for a 5 p.m. encounter Tuesday with the 24th-ranked Hawkeyes (9-2).

'If we beat Drake, it's probably a three-way tie, and that's better than losing it,' said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder, whose team has beaten UNI and lost to Iowa State.

Figure on a highly entertaining, high-scoring display. Last year in Des Moines, the Hawkeyes escaped, 100-98, behind 10 3-pointers from Melissa Dixon and a game-winner by Samantha Logic.

Both of those two have graduated, but Drake's Lizzy Wendell returns. Wendell scored 43 points against the Hawkeyes last year, and is averaging 19.5 points per game this season.

'That's a team full of shooters,' Iowa's Ally Disterhoft said. 'They place a heavy emphasis on the 3-ball. It's like playing a version of ourselves.'

Drake is averaging 80.5 points per game, Iowa 75.0.

'I think we both have fun styles,' said Drake Coach Jennie Baranczyk, who — as Jennie Lillis — played at Iowa from 2000 through 2004 and ranks fifth all-time at Iowa in scoring.

Baranczyk has guided a steady improvement at Drake and owns a 55-49 mark in three-plus seasons. The Bulldogs played in the WNIT last year.

'This year, we finally competed with Iowa State,' Baranczyk said. 'Last year, we competed with Iowa. I'm really interested to see if we can compete with them on their home floor.'

Caitlin Ingle (Runnells) is the starting point guard while Nicole Miller (Walker) and Paige Greiner (Williamsburg) are both scoring about 6 points per game off the bench.

Miller, a freshman, was the 2015 Gazette Female Athlete of the Year and Miss Iowa Basketball 2015 at North-Linn High School.

Drake started 6-0, but has lost three of its last four games, including an 87-75 defeat at Northern Illinois on Saturday.

Tuesday's game marks the final pre-Big Ten game for the Hawkeyes, who open conference play Dec. 31 at Nebraska.

Disterhoft leads the Hawkeyes at 17.0 points per game and is shooting 52 percent from the floor. Bluder shook up the starting lineup prior to the Hawkeyes' 60-53 win over Bradley on Saturday, starting Tania Davis in Whitney Jennings' place at point guard.

'I think Whitney's going to bounce back,' Bluder said. 'We need consistent play out of both of them.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com