Women’s basketball roundup: Iowa bounces back, beats Houston

No. 21 Iowa left the Lone Star state with a victory, topping Houston, 64-50, on Saturday morning in the Lone Star Showcase in Cedar Park, Texas.

The Hawkeyes (6-1) fixed some rebounding issues early, but never got their offense on track against the Cougars (1-5).

'A win is a win,” Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said. 'An ugly win is better than a pretty loss, but I just don't think we got better today, and that's kind of unfortunate.”

Bluder was upset Iowa managed just 12 assists on 20 baskets. Both teams had 46 rebounds and Iowa did hit 17-of-23 from the foul line.

'We need to take care of the ball better and get back to an assist-first mentality,” Bluder said. 'Twelve assists is just so low for us. That's not Iowa basketball.”

Iowa won the second quarter 22-11, went up 38-23 at the half, and Houston never narrowed the margin to single digits in the final two quarters.

'The first quarter we didn't do a good job of boxing out and rebounding, and Coach Bluder got on us for that,” freshman forward Megan Gustafson said. 'That's what helped us down the stretch.”

Gustafson had a team-best eight rebounds off the bench to go with 11 points. Ally Disterhoft led Iowa with 15 points, followed by Alexa Kastanek (13), and Carly Mohns (11).

After three games in three days, Iowa now has a quick turnaround, going on the road to face Virginia on Wednesday in a Big Ten/ACC Challenge game.

'This early in the year, when you play this many games in a row, it is hard to work on fundamentals; work on things you didn't do correctly the game before,” Bluder said. 'We didn't get that opportunity, and I think that showed a little bit today.”

IDAHO 97, IOWA STATE 65

- The Vandals hit 17 3-pointers to help bury the Cyclones on Saturday morning at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico.

Freshman Taylor Pierce came off the bench for Idaho (5-1) and hit 9-of-11 3-pointers, setting a school record, to pace the long-range attack.

'My teammates and coaches kept telling me to keep shooting,” Pierce told Idaho's athletics website. 'Most of them were pretty open so they were not too difficult to knock down.”

The Cyclones trailed just 32-30 at halftime, but got outscored 29-15 in the third quarter, and 65-35 in the second half.

Junior guard Seanna Johnson had 28 points and 12 rebounds to pace Iowa State (2-3). The Cyclones return to action Wednesday against Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.