Impressive first half leads Hawkeye women to 76-38 victory

IOWA CITY - With two home games remaining before an extended road trip, Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder is looking for her team to get better.

For a half, at least, that appeared to be the case.

The Hawkeyes displayed energetic intensity on both ends of the floor while racing to a 31-point halftime lead before doubling up Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 76-38, in front of 2,810 fans Wednesday night in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Iowa (3-0), which picked up 37 votes in Monday's USA Today Coaches Poll following Sunday's overtime win over then-No. 16 Dayton, led by as many as 40 points during a more sluggish second half in which they managed just 27 points.

“I think it was a very good first half,” Bluder said. “I thought we got our break going again. We were passing the ball well. That second half, we let up on the intensity. I'm disappointed in that because I think we could have really used the time to improve and get better at our game.”

Point guard Samantha Logic, who averaged 22 points the first games, deferred to teammates last night, dishing five assists and grabbing seven rebounds in 22 scoreless minutes with just one shot.

“That's Sam's mentality,” Bluder said. “She's going to score when she needs to score for us.”

Post Bethany Doolittle and guard Melissa Dixon led Iowa with 17 points each, but Dixon continues to struggle with her long-range shooting. The junior was 2 of 11 from 3-point range, and is 4 of 26 (15.3 percent) through three games.

“As a shooter you just need to have a short memory,” Dixon said. “You have to feel like the next one's going in. My coaches, my teammates have confidence in me so that gives me confidence that the next one's going in.”

Eight Hawkeyes played at least 20 minutes. Freshman Ally Disterhoft scored all 12 of her points in a little over seven minutes. The former Iowa City West prep was a rebound shy of her first double-double. Sophomore Claire Till grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds.

Christina Lasane had nine points for Arkansas-Pine Bluff (1-2).

Iowa hosts Stony Brook Sunday at 1 p.m. in its last home game until Dec. 5. Iowa plays at Colorado and Northern Iowa before heading to Cancun, Mexico, for the Cancun Challenge over Thanksgiving weekend.

“I think it's really important that we have a good win on Sunday against Stony Brook,” Bluder said. “We need to get ourselves better. We need to continue to grow, continue to get better no matter who we're playing against. We need to get better because next week it gets pretty tough.”