Slow starts no reason for ‘red alerts’ — yet

IOWA CITY — It's too early to call it a trend. And, according to Lisa Bluder, it's too early for concern.

'It's something we're going to address,' Bluder said Tuesday, referring to the slow starts the University of Iowa women's basketball team has overcome in its first two games. 'But it's early, and it's not like there are any red alerts going off right now.'

No. 23 Iowa (2-0) hosts Western Illinois (2-0) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Hawkeyes hope to be quicker out of the gate than they have been thus far.

Iowa held a 33-31 halftime lead on North Dakota in its opener, then fell behind Tennessee-Martin, 10-0, before awakening and drawing to a 26-all halftime stalemate.

'It's something we have to focus on,' said junior co-captain Ally Disterhoft. 'We'd have liked to have opened with two blowout wins, but we've been able to identify aspects we need to improve on.'

Thursday's game has the potential to be a high-scoring affair. The Leathernecks are scoring 93 points per game.

'They play the kind of basketball I love to watch,' Bluder said. 'Half of their field-goal attempts are from 3-point range, and they have a high-assist/low-turnover rate.'

Western Illinois has three Iowans on its roster, including starting point guard Emily Clemens, a sophomore from Muscatine, and Mount Vernon native Liz Skotowski. Freshman Taylor Higganbotham leads the outfit from Macomb with 21 points per game and a 68-percent shooting rate (including 7 of 9 from long distance).

Bluder has utilized an eight-player rotation, with Disterhoft, Kali Peschel, Whitney Jennings, Chase Coley and Alexa Kastanek serving as starters, and Christina Buttenham, Megan Gustafson and Tania Davis coming off the bench.

Disterhoft leads the team at 15.5 points per game and has surpassed the 1,000-point career plateau. Peschel has added 12.0 points and 9.5 rebounds per contest.

'Kali has just been waiting for that breakout year,' Bluder said. 'She deserves it. She has been great at staying positive and working hard.'

Thursday's game is the last one at Carver until a Dec. 6 encounter with Robert Morris. The intrastate battles begin Sunday, at Northern Iowa.

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