Davis paces Iowa women to 2-0 start

IOWA CITY - An inauspicious opening quarter put the Iowa women's basketball program down 10 points, and the Hawkeyes were in need of a spark. That spark was provided by freshman guard Tania Davis.

After Tennessee-Martin (1-1) raced to a 10-0 lead, Davis dropped a pair of 3-pointers to quickly close the gap. It was just the jolt Iowa (2-0) needed in a tight 62-56 win Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Davis played 29 minutes and scored 12 points, pulled down six boards, dished four assists and grabbed two steals. Her minutes were a product of how the game unfolded, not a pregame plan, Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder said.

'I thought that was really the change that we needed, coming in off the bench like that and giving us that spark,” Bluder said. 'But yeah, she's playing a lot, Megan (Gustafson) obviously is doing great things, as well, coming off the bench. She shot the ball well again (Sunday).”

'Coming in I was just looking to play my role actually, do my defensive job, move the ball on offense, take the open shot when it's open and luckily my shots fell,” Davis said. 'My defense followed.”

Tennessee-Martin hardly proved to be a walkover opponent for the Hawkeyes. The Skyhawks scored 84 points in its opener Saturday against North Dakota. The Hawkeyes never could extend their lead past seven points in the second half and it was trimmed to 59-56 with 2:08 left in the game. But Kastanek hit a 3-pointer on Iowa's next possession - on a Davis assist - to provide the winning margin. Kastanek came up big twice in the stretch. She also hit a 3-pointer with 3:57 left to push Iowa's lead to seven.

'Those were really clutch,” Bluder said. 'We're talking the last four minutes of a tight game. They went zone, and she stepped up and hit those baseline jumpers.

'Personally my favorite thing about Tania tonight was the no-look transition pass to I think Alexa Kastanek, the three-point play. It was pretty sweet.”

Junior Ally Disterhoft became the 34th player in Iowa history to score 1,000 points in a career. Disterhoft, an Iowa City West product, finished with 11 points and pulled down six boards in 35 minutes.

'Obviously it's an honor, but I wouldn't have been able to accomplish anything without my amazing teammates,” Disterhoft said. 'I played with some amazing girls over the last two years who have been able to put me in that position to score. The Sam Logics, all those girls. It's an honor, but it's definitely a huge credit to my teammates.”

Iowa plays host to Western Illinois at 7 p.m. Thursday.

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