Iowa keeps rolling against Robert Morris for third win this week

IOWA CITY – For much of the first half, the Iowa women were playing in the wrong gear.

A disruptive Robert Morris defense forced a few turnovers and bad shots. When the Hawkeyes found the right gear, it was full speed ahead in an 81-60 win over the Colonials. The win puts Iowa at 8-3 overall, and 3-0 this week.

'This was a really good week for us,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'This was a tough task, playing two in-state rivals (UNI and ISU), and a really good Robert Morris team with just one day to prepare. I'm really happy with this week.”

Early on, Iowa looked a little sluggish. The Hawkeyes had five turnovers midway through the second quarter. The sixth, an Alexa Kastanek turnover with 5:16 left in the second, allowed Robert Morris to take a 29-27 lead.

'We did a good job of staying together and talking it out,” said Ally Disterhoft. 'We talked through it and said, ‘We can do better than this.'”

Iowa found the right gear late in the first half. The Hawkeyes went on a 13-2 run to lead 40-31 at halftime. Iowa drilled three of its five 3-pointers during the run. Iowa finished the game just 26 percent from 3-point range.

'I was a little worried about this game,” said Bluder. 'I thought this might be a little bit of a trap game, with the emotions and highs of beating UNI and Iowa State.”

Foul trouble curbed the aggressive Robert Morris defense, and Iowa took advantage, knocking down 20-of-28 from the line. Iowa also had 14 offensive rebounds, leading to 15 second chance points.

'I look at Megan, because she is usually responsible for a lot of those,” said Bluder. 'The glass, both offensively and defensively was very good.”

Gustafson led the charge for Iowa with 15 points and nine rebounds. The sophomore played 26 minutes against Robert Morris. Gustafson played 31 minutes against Iowa State and 22 against Northern Iowa for a total of 79 minutes of basketball this week.

'Three games this week was a lot for everybody to take on,” said Gustafson. 'If I'm getting a little tired underneath, I'm just hoping to get my teammates open.”

The balanced scoring helped the Hawkeyes close out the Colonials. Iowa had four players in double-digit scoring, and two more with eight points each.

'I love the balanced scoring,” said Bluder. 'I think we proved the other night that you can focus on these two (Disterhoft and Gustafson), but someone else is going to step up.”