Pair of Iowa women’s basketball freshmen impress as Game Time League teammates

NORTH LIBERTY – It's only her first week at Iowa, but highly-touted Hawkeye women's basketball freshman Tania Davis seems right at home.

Davis and the other three members of Iowa's 17th-ranked recruiting class by espnW made their Game Time League debuts Wednesday night, hoping to show they're capable of helping Iowa continue its success following the graduation of the program's winningest senior class in 21 years.

Davis, a quick, athletic point guard scored 26 points and added nine rebounds and seven assists in a 103-78 victory.

'I feel completely comfortable,” Davis said. 'I ran the read and react offense when I was a lot younger and I really, really liked it. Gap defense, I played that in high school so I'm really comfortable and I feel like this is my system.”

Hawkeye junior Alexa Kastanek guarded Davis at times and was quickly impressed. The two playfully jabbed and talked on the floor, then praised each other in postgame interviews as if they had been teammates for years.

'It makes me a lot more comfortable that me and Lex can actually play on the court like that,” Davis said. 'We're great teammates. We're great friends.”

'I was impressed with how she extends on her layups,” Kastanek said. 'And her quickness. She's a great point guard.”

Davis, espnW's 36th-ranked recruit in the country, is well aware of the shoes she is trying to fill - those of All-American Sam Logic, now with the WNBA's Atlanta Dream.

'She set (the standard) real high. Definitely,” said Davis, who hails from Grand Blanc, Mich. 'I learned a lot from Sam just watching her on TV and learning her style of play.”

Davis' style should fit right in with Iowa's fast, high-scoring offense.

Her best highlights of the night were a behind-the-back dribble and scoop shot and a difficult bounce-pass through defenders in transition for a bucket.

'I love to get the ball out and I love to run,” Davis said. 'I love to score layups and get my teammates open threes, open looks, whatever is open. I just like to run.”

She's also developing an outside shot to go along with her speed and ball-handling abilities, hitting four of seven 3-pointers last night.

'It's a big part now that I'm at Iowa,” Davis said. 'In high school I could use my foot speed, but now that I'm in college I have to be able to hit the three ball.”

Her GTL teammate Megan Gustafson was ranked as the No. 81 recruit in the country by espnW out of South Shore, Wis. The 6-foot-3 forward showed the ability to hold the ball high and score or get fouled inside, totaling 20 points, 14 boards and five blocks.

'It's been tough with all the practices, but it's been really fun learning the new system and Iowa's basketball program,” she said.

Statistics in summer league games are taken with a grain of salt, but if nothing else, Davis and Gustafson enjoy getting to play alongside one another as they begin their careers.

'(It's nice) to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses, what we like to do, what we don't like to do,” Davis said. 'We work really, really well together and I like her as a teammate.”

'She's so good and it's super fun to get to know her,” Gustafson said of Davis. 'She's so fast. I'm really excited to play with her and the other freshmen as well.”

Davis and Gustafson are joined by No. 83-ranked Hannah Stewart (6-2 forward) and Tagyn Larson (6-2 forward) in the 2015 recruiting class.

It's a group that could be critical to continuing a streak of NCAA tournament appearances, and the welcoming they've received shows that.

'The town, the girls. We're all really cool,” Davis said. 'It's just my first week here and it already feels like a family. They're picking us up for workouts, taking us back to our dorms. They're helping us whenever we need them to help us.”

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