Iowa women roll on at Cancun Challenge

The Iowa women's basketball team kept its run going in the Cancun Challenge last night, beating Boston College, 78-68.

The second straight win for the Hawkeyes on their trip to Mexico once again came against a team from a so-called “power conference.” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said wins like last night and Thursday night go a long way toward building up the team as it heads into conference play.

“(Thursday) night we played the Pac-12; (last night) we played the ACC. It's just important, you know,” Bluder said. “You're going against great competition from great power conferences, and those wins speak volumes at the end of the season. But they also speak volumes in getting your confidence up for the Big Ten season.”

The Hawkeyes (7-1) held a 36-34 lead at halftime and trailed by as many as five at one point in the second half. Bluder said there was never any panic.

“Keep focused, keep disciplined,” Bluder said of the message to her team. “There was like 11 or 12 minutes left at that point, so there was a lot of time, but we had to quit making some mental mistakes at that point, and get out and cover their three-point shooters.”

From the 11:53 mark on, when Iowa trailed 53-48, the Hawkeyes used a balanced effort to retake the lead. An 8-2 run over the next 3:43 gave Iowa a 56-55 lead, one it didn't relinquish.

All five Hawkeye starters scored in double figures, led by Melissa Dixon's 17 and Bethany Doolittle and Kali Peschel with 15 apiece.

Iowa has no time to rest. It plays UNC-Wilmington in the Hawks' final game of the Challenge at 7:30 tonight.

“It's a little bit of a quick turnaround, but we wouldn't mind staying down here and keep playing,” Bluder said. “We feel like we're on a bit of a roll, so why not play four or five down here?

“It's going to be a little bit more of a fatigue situation, playing three games in three days. This is where our bench is really going to have to come through for us tomorrow, and I think they will.”