Kash-back: Alexander set to return Sunday

IOWA CITY - The pain was bad. Watching was worse.

“It was gut-wrenching,” said Kachine Alexander, who will make her return to the University of Iowa women's basketball team Sunday when the Hawkeyes host Drake.

“The little things I can do, the things I know I can do to help the team ... it was hard.”

Alexander, a junior guard, averaged 21 points and 15 rebounds through the first three games before being sidelined four weeks ago by a stress fracture in her lower leg. She returned to practice early this week.

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder expects Alexander to come off the bench and play about 15 minutes Sunday.

“She brings up the level of intensity,” Bluder said. “I've already seen her going into the bleachers (at practice). She only has one speed, and that's what you're going to get.”

Iowa (5-5) lost four of seven games with Alexander on the shelf.

“It's a big lift to have her back,” said Kamille Wahlin, who averaged nearly 18 points per game when Alexander was sidelined. “We feed off her really well, the emotion and energy that she brings.”

Alexander said her conditioning “is getting better. It's not like I'm going to go out and play 36 minutes right away.”

The sharp pain she initially felt - “like somebody stabbing at my shin” - has subsided.

“Now it's the rest of my body that's sore,” she said.