Iowa women’s basketball posts another high-level, high-energy performance

IOWA CITY — Maybe you don’t know strategy. Maybe you don’t get the X’s and O’s, the ins and outs.

But you know effort. You know energy.

And with the Iowa Hawkeyes, you see defensive progress. Much-needed progress.

“We’re more active,” Coach Lisa Bluder said after the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes routed Samford, 91-54, in a women’s basketball game before a crowd of 4,555 Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“We’re applying more pressure on the ball. We’ve become more aware of how important defense is, and it shows.”

The Hawkeyes were dead last in the nation in scoring defense last year, allowing more than 80 points per game. No, the competition level hasn’t been high — yet — but they’ve yielded just 52.0 points per contest in a pair of lopsided wins.

“We’ve had good defensive intensity,” Caitlin Clark said. “We’re building confidence.”

Iowa is playing at its own high level, not that of its opposition. Eighty minutes, and the Hawkeyes haven’t trailed for a single second.

Monika Czinano led the Hawkeyes (2-0) with 20 points. Clark added 19. Nobody else reached double figures, but eight others scored five points or more.

“It shows the quality of our bench,” said Bluder, who needs three more wins to become the 17th coach in women’s basketball history (all levels) to win 800 games. “I feel comfortable going to our bench. We have so many weapons on this team, and that gives me comfort as a coach.

“There’s a reason we schedule these games, it gives everybody a chance to play. But there have been times in games like this that we didn’t get everybody in until the last six or seven minutes.”

The drama was gone early. Iowa ruled in all phases of the first half on its way to a 47-22 lead.

All you need to know: Iowa had 15 assists before intermission, and finished with 24; Samford (0-1) had three assists at halftime, against 13 turnovers.

Iowa managed just three points (a triple by Gabbie Marshall) in the first three minutes, but got it going quickly thereafter.

All of the passing lanes to Czinano were open, and the senior had three baskets and an assist by the first media timeout. Iowa led 14-5 at that point, and the Hawkeyes had accumulated 10 assists by the end of the first quarter and led 25-14.

“(My teammates) just found me,” Czinano said. “I was running downcourt with my head down, I posted up, and I was lucky enough to convert.”

Ten Hawkeyes played in the first half, and nine of them scored. Clark didn’t score until the 1:20 mark of the first quarter, but heated up and had 15 points by halftime.

Iowa City West alum Logan Cook made all three of her first-half shots.

“I’m more comfortable playing either the ‘4’ or the ‘5,’” she said. “My teammates instill so much confidence in me.”

Iowa’s bench finished with 32 points, led by nine from Iowa State transfer Kylie Feuerbach.

Samford’s longest scoring run through the first three quarters was three points in a row.

The Hawkeyes face their first road test Sunday at Northern Iowa. Tipoff is 2 p.m. at McLeod Center.

The last time Iowa traveled to Cedar Falls (2019-20), it came home with an 88-66 loss.

“I’m excited to go back,” Czinano said. “This is a new team with a new defensive philosophy. We want to show what we can do, how good we really are.”

The Hawkeyes return home Wednesday to face Southern University.

IOWA 91, SAMFORD 54

At Iowa City

SAMFORD (54): Annie Ramil 2-8 2-2 6, Olivia Ramil 0-3 0-0 0, Shauntai Battle 3-8 1-1 9, Andrea Cournoyer 5-13 0-0 15, Jaden Langford 0-2 0-0 0, Sanaa Redmond 2-8 0-0 4, Kiersten Nelson 4-9 1-2 9, Kathleen Wheeler 1-2 0-0 3, Mattie Hatcher 2-5 0-0 6, Sussy Ngulefac 0-0 2-4 2. Totals 19-58 10-29 54.

IOWA (91): McKenna Warnock 2-2 3-4 8, Monika Czinano 8-11 4-5 20, Kate Martin 3-3 0-0 6, Caitlin Clark 8-14 0-0 19, Gabbie Marshall 2-6 0-0 6, Tomi Taiwo 2-4 0-0 6, Kylie Feuerbach 4-8 1-2 9, Logan Cook 3-4 0-0 6, Sydney Affolter 3-3 0-0 6, Addison O’Grady 2-6 1-2 5, A.J. Ediger 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 37-62 9-13 91.

Halftime: Iowa 47, Samford 22. 3-point goals: Samford 10-29 (A. Ramil 0-2, O. Ramil 0-1, Battle 2-6, Cournoyer 5-9, Redmond 0-5, Wheeler 1-2, Hatcher 2-4), Iowa 8-22 (Warnock 1-1, Clark 3-8, Marshall 2-5, Taiwo 2-3, Feuerbach 0-3, Cook 0-1, Ediger 0-1). Team fouls: Samford 15, Iowa 12. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Samford 30 (A. Ramil 15), Iowa 37 (Warnock, O’Grady 6). Assists: Samford 11 (Redmond 5), Iowa 24 (Martin 5). Steals: Samford 10 (Cournoyer 5), Iowa 8 (three with 2). Turnovers: Samford 24, Iowa 17.

Attendance: 4,555.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com