Disterhoft, Gustafson power Iowa women in opener

IOWA CITY — A pair of career-high scorers and a 19-rebound advantage highlighted Iowa women's basketball's season-opening win Friday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes got 29 points and seven rebounds from Ally Disterhoft and Megan Gustafson finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds to power Iowa past Oral Roberts, 96-76.

Iowa controlled the game on both ends in the first half, holding Oral Roberts to 30 first-half points and just 28.9 percent shooting. The Golden Eagles put up 29 points in the third quarter alone, though. While the Hawkeyes maintained their lead in the second half, Coach Lisa Bluder acknowledged it wasn't the defensive performance they wanted to see.

First-game cobwebs being the cause is the hope there.

'I thought offensively we did a really good job taking care of the ball — much better than we did the first time out (in the exhibition); rebounded well again. Defensively we were really good in the first half, but let up in the second half,' Bluder said. 'That's a little concerning, but we have to learn to keep our focus with a big lead.'

The Hawkeyes (1-0) played primarily in man-to-man defense throughout the game, moving into a 1-3-1 zone at times to combat what Bluder called a deficiency in one-on-one drives to the basket.

Correcting that and a more intense focus on off-ball defense will be the key moving forward.

'We had trouble containing the drive in the second half,' Bluder said. 'We need to do a better job of helpside defense so they can't get to the rim like that.

'We need to do a better job taking the ball out of those players' hands if they're beating us. We'll make adjustments and be better in the long run.'

Iowa subbed five players at a time for most of the game, going with a platoon style that Bluder said fans can expect again Sunday against Hampton. The theory there, she said, was using the depth the Hawkeyes have at a time in the season where they can afford to spread minutes around.

As for Disterhoft and Gustafson's big days, Bluder lauded their efforts in powering the offense.

Gustafson said after the game she put in extra time this offseason in getting stronger and having better footwork in the post. It paid off in Game 1, for sure, given four of her 12 rebounds were on the offensive glass, and she was 10 of 14 from the field.

Disterhoft was even more impressive where shooting was concerned. The Iowa City West grad was 9 of 10 from the field and 11 of 13 from the free throw line en route to her career high, and said after the game her success Friday night was mostly due to shot selection. Teammates passed her open on more than one occasion, but she also created scoring opportunities driving to the basket.

Point guard Tania Davis added 13 points and Chase Coley added eight for the Hawkeyes.

Bluder said Disterhoft and Gustafson doing such a bulk of the scoring isn't what she has envisioned for this season, but that it will depend, night-to-night, on who her team is playing. She certainly isn't going to turn away 54 points from two players, that's for sure.

'I love balanced scoring, to be quite honest. I think we're much harder to guard when we have balanced scoring,' Bluder said. 'Every game is a little different depending on your opponent. Our goal ultimately is to have more people around double-figures.'

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