Pair of freshmen start as Iowa women’s basketball evaluates depth in exhibition

IOWA CITY - A wrinkle to the starting lineup. Waves of five-in, five-out substitutions. A defensive intensity that Lisa Bluder said was missing at times last season.

Bluder hopes the defensive effort can continue (obviously), but the 17-year Iowa women's basketball coach isn't sure what else will stick after the Hawkeyes' 61-35 exhibition win over Lewis University on Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Bluder is open to anything after 10 players logged double-digit minutes in Iowa's only official tune-up before the real season starts Friday against Oral Roberts.

'We have terrific depth and balance in this basketball program and we just have to figure out how to use it,” she said. 'It's not a strength unless you use it.”

Megan Gustafson had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Ally Disterhoft added 15 points to lead the Hawkeyes. Guard Tania Davis had nine points and 10 assists.

No surprise that all three started for the Hawkeyes. Freshmen guards Bre Cera (a McDonald's All-American) and Kathleen Doyle (Illinois Miss Basketball) joined them in the starting lineup.

Junior Chase Coley - who started 31 of 33 games last season and averaged 11.1 points and 5.9 rebounds - came off the bench.

Cera had no points and two rebounds in 22 minutes. Doyle had three assists and two steals in 21 minutes. Coley had four points and eight rebounds in 15 minutes.

The starting lineup for Friday's season opener is to be determined for the Hawkeyes, who are looking to return to the NCAA Tournament after an eight-year streak was snapped last year.

'I really don't know,” Bluder said of the starting lineup. 'I have a few days to work on that. I'll watch film (Sunday night) and evaluate statistically what combinations were better and we'll go from there.”

Iowa had a sloppy start against Lewis, a Division II program from Romeoville, Ill. The Hawkeyes committed 18 of their 23 turnovers in the first half and led only 24-16 at halftime.

Things settled down in the second half when Iowa used a 16-3 run in between the third and fourth quarters to pull away from the Flyers.

Disterhoft - who is 518 points away from becoming Iowa's all-time leading scorer after scoring 565 points as a junior last season - shot 8 of 9 from the field in 23 minutes. Gustafson hit 8 of 9 in 21 minutes.

The Hawkeyes out-rebounded Lewis by a whopping 54-24 margin. Iowa nearly had as many offensive rebounds (20) as Lewis did total boards.

Iowa's defense was the highlight for Bluder. The Hawkeyes had 14 steals and blocked five shots. Lewis was held to 26 percent shooting for the game and made only 1 of 14 3-pointers.

'That's the fewest points we've given up in really a long time,” Disterhoft said. 'That's promising.”