Doolittle’s career night boosts Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY - Northwestern's defense had been, statistically, the best in the Big Ten.

Wednesday night, the Iowa Hawkeyes shredded it.

Bethany Doolittle scored a career-high 29 points as 21st-ranked Iowa rolled to an 83-70 women's basketball triumph in front of 4,027 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

'I tried to go to the basket a little harder,” Doolittle said. 'I looked for open gaps. This is an assist-first team, and everybody was looking for the cutters.”

Iowa (13-3 overall, 4-1 Big Ten) gained sole possession of second place in the Big Ten, a half-game behind Maryland. The Terrapins are at Rutgers on Thursday.

'We beat a very good team tonight,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'They spread out their zone so much, we were able to get it into the paint.”

And get it to Doolittle. The senior post scored 11 of Iowa's 13 points, slowed down after picking up her second foul, then caught her second wind after halftime as the Hawkeyes pulled away.

She hit 13 of 20 shots from the floor, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked five shots.

'Everybody's denying Melissa (Dixon) now,” said Samantha Logic, who dished out nine assists - most of them to Doolittle. 'That's going to give us an easy post pass to Bethany.”

Northwestern (13-3, 3-2) entered the game with the Big Ten's top defense in scoring average (56.8 points) and field-goal defense (33.8 percent). But the Wildcats couldn't slow down the Hawkeyes, and Iowa improved to 10-0 at home and 13-0 in games in which it has scored 70 points or more.

A 21-7 surge in a 7-minute span transformed a 16-9 deficit into a 30-23 advantage.

Iowa led 41-38 at intermission after going the length of the court with two passes in 3 seconds. Whitney Jennings hit a 15-foot shot from the right wing at the buzzer.

Then the Hawkeyes scored 11 straight points to start the second half to blow it open. The largest lead was 64-44, on Doolittle's basket with 11:27 left.

Northwestern got within 69-60 with 6 minutes left, but a 3-pointer by Jennings stemmed the tide.

Ally Disterhoft added 16 points, Dixon 13 and Jennings 10 fior the Hawkeyes. Logic posted six points and 11 rebounds to go with her nine assists. Jennings added six assists, a career best.

Alex Cohen and Maggie Lyon scored 16 points apiece for Northwestern. Nia Coffey added 12 points and 15 rebounds, but shot 4 of 22 from the field.

The Hawkeyes are at Michigan State (8-8, 0-5) on Sunday.

IOWA 83, NORTHWESTERN 70

At Iowa City

NORTHWESTERN (70): Alex Cohen 7-12 2-2 16, Nia Coffey 4-22 3-8 12, Ashley Deary 2-6 2-4 6, Christen Inman 4-9 0-0 8, Maggie Lyon 5-14 2-2 16, Lauren Douglas 4-12 3-4 12, Lydia Rohde 0-0 0-0 0, Allie Tuttle 0-0 0-0 0, Karly Roser 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-75 12-20 70.

IOWA (83): Bethany Doolittle 13-20 3-4 29, Ally Disterhoft 6-13 4-6 16, Whitney Jennings 4-8 1-2 10, Melissa Dixon 3-10 4-4 13, Samantha Logic 3-7 0-1 6, Alexa Kastanek 0-0 0-0 0, Claire Till 1-2 0-0 2, Chase Coley 2-2 0-0 4, Christina Buttenham 0-0 0-0 0, Kali Peschel 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 33-65 12-17 83.

Halftime: Iowa 41, Northwestern 38. 3-point goals: Northwestern 6-18 (Cohen 0-2, Coffey 1-4, Deary 0-2, Inman 0-1, Lyon 4-7, Douglas 1-2), Iowa 5-18 (Disterhoft 0-5, Jennings 1-3, Dixon 3-7, Logic 0-2, Peschel 1-1). Team fouls: Northwestern 19, Iowa 16. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Northwestern 44 (Coffey 15), Iowa 44 (Doolittle 12). Assists: Northwestern 19 (Deary 7), Iowa 22 (Logic 9). Steals: Northwestern 6 (Lyon 2), Iowa 2 (Logic, Till). Turnovers: Northwestern 9, Iowa 14.

Attendance: 4,027.

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