Hawks' 2011 mission: Shore up the D

STANFORD, Calif. – The Iowa Hawkeyes witnessed excellence Monday night.

Next year, they'll try to attain it. Or at least approach it.

Second-rated Stanford put emphatic closure on the Hawkeyes' season, scoring 61 first-half points and ousting the Hawkeyes, 96-67, in a second-round game at the NCAA women's basketball tournament at Maples Pavilion.

Iowa bowed out at 20-14.

“It stinks to go out like this, but this season was a blast,” said Jaime Printy, the Big Ten freshman of the year.

Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said, “We were probably the youngest team in America still playing (Monday). I'm not going to define our season on what happened in this one game.

“With everything we came through, this was a great season.”

In mid-January, this looked like a lost season. Young and injured, the Hawkeyes were 8-10 and mired in last place in the Big Ten.

Then they closed with 12 victories in their final 16 games. They finished third in the league, second in the league tournament and reached the second round of the NCAA for the first time since 2002.

Next season could be better. Should be better. Might be much better.

The Hawkeyes don't lose anybody. Presumably, they'll regain the services of Theairra Taylor and Hannah Draxten, who missed the majority of the season with injuries. There's a remote possibility that JoAnn Hamlin will be granted a sixth season after sitting this year due to a blood clot in her leg.

Jade Rogers of Cedar Rapids Kennedy will be the lone incoming freshman.

In the locker room following Monday's defeat, Bluder revealed to her team its offseason quest: Improve a defense that was exposed routinely by the Cardinal.

“We need to develop a defensive presence this summer,” said Kachine Alexander, who scored a career-high 27 points Monday and has the potential to reach All-American status next year as a senior. “We can score. That's not a problem.”

Iowa averaged 69.4 points per game and allowed 66.9.

If, in fact, players make their biggest improvement between their freshman and sophomore seasons, Iowa could be ready to challenge Ohio State for Big Ten supremacy in 2010-11. Printy was the Hawkeyes' second-leading scorer behind Alexander. Morgan Johnson and Gabby Machado both have their strengths inside. Taylor, when healthy, is as athletic as anyone on the team.

Starters Kamille Wahlin and Kelly Krei will be juniors.

Then there's Alexander, who came back from an early-season stress fracture to average a double-double. Her effort at Stanford didn't go unnoticed; she earned a standing ovation from the Cardinal faithful when she left the game in the final minute.

“That was very nice of them,” she said.

So how far can the Hawkeyes climb next season?

“To jump to (Stanford's level) is unrealistic,” Bluder said. “You've got to take steps. We'll have to be better at the first part of the season, and we have to win the close games.”

Iowa was 3-9 in games decided by six points or less.

Twenty wins, including one in the NCAA Tournament, was an excellent season this year. Next year, with everything Iowa has coming back, it would be a minor disappointment.

“However we finish up,” Wahlin said earlier this week, “we want to win more and go further next year.”