No. 3 seed at stake for Hawks, Wisconsin

IOWA CITY - Kachine Alexander already has a BlackBerry.

“I don't need any presents for my birthday,” said Alexander, who turns 21 today. “Just get me a win, OK?”

The Big Ten women's basketball regular season ends today. Much is at stake for Iowa.

A victory at Wisconsin would place the Hawkeyes (16-12 overall, 9-8 Big Ten) in a third-place tie with the Badgers (20-8, 10-7) and possibly Purdue (14-14, 9-8).

 It would mean a No. 3 seed at the Big Ten Tournament and would greatly enhance their NCAA tournament hopes.

“Big games are the games that you play for,” Morgan Johnson said.

“There's a lot at stake,” said Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder, who said Wednesday that wins Thursday and today would make the Hawkeyes worthy of an NCAA at-large berth, provided they made a good account of themselves at the conference tournament.

“If you said six weeks ago we'd be in this position, people would have laughed at you.”

At 1-6 in the Big Ten in mid-January, Iowa was in last place. Eight wins in the last 10 games have led to a steady climb.

“My teammates are amazing,” Alexander said. “This is the kind of game that you play for. We could take it, or we could not.”

A loss would push the Hawkeyes as low as a sixth seed if Penn State (16-11, 8-9) wins at Indiana. Iowa defeated Wisconsin, 61-51, New Year's Eve at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Marion native Jaime Printy set the school's freshman scoring record Thursday in a 76-64 win over Indiana. Printy has scored 428 points in her rookie campaign.