Another blowout for Bluder's Bunch

IOWA CITY – Lisa Bluder admits this has been a bit of a work in progress, even more than she anticipated.

The Iowa women's basketball team may not be where program outsiders or the coaching staff expected at the 10-game checkpoint. But they're improving. And they're still evolving – Bluder points out – as they settle into rotations that feature six players who didn't get significant minutes last season.

“We have to remember some of those things going forward and that we are going to get better,” Bluder said after Iowa handled Western Illinois 98-45 Friday night.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we're going to grow and we're going to get better as this year goes on. Maybe we're not where we want to be right now, but we're going to get there. I have complete faith that we will.”

The Hawkeyes (6-4) were a basket away from hitting the 100-point mark for the first time since 1988 – and even dribbled out the final possession despite pleas from the fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa jumped out to a 15-2 advantage in the first 4 ½ minutes against Western Illinois and put together a 14-2 run later in the first half in an easy win. Guard Jamie Printy led the Hawkeyes with 25 points, tying a career-high with five 3-pointers.

The Hawkeyes returned four starters from last year's team that won seven games to start the season and owned a 12-1 record going into Big Ten play.

It's been a bit unsteady this season. Iowa lost the Hawkeye Challenge last month for only the fifth time in 25 years. The Hawkeyes had lost three of their last four games before Friday, including road losses to Iowa State and Kansas State in overtime.

“After dropping two we were obviously extremely frustrated, especially games where we felt like we could have had either one if we done the right things on either side,” senior Kamille Wahlin said. “We definitely wanted to get that behind us and have a win where we felt we were executing a lot better.”

Now Iowa doesn't play for a full week during finals. The Hawkeyes are three weeks away from the Big Ten opener against Northwestern.

“I think this is just what we needed,” Bluder said. “This is going to prime the pump to get us really rolling now.”

Melissa Dixon scored 15 points off the bench, including four 3-point shots. Wahlin added 14 points.

Western Illinois (3-6) missed 53 field goals, shot 19.7 percent and turned it over 20 times.

The starting lineup for the Leathernecks combined for only eight points and 11 rebounds on 2-of-20 shooting. Jackie Rieger led Western Illinois with 10 points off the bench.