Hawkeyes have ‘big shoes to fill’

OKLAHOMA CITY - Lisa Bluder stood in the locker room, trying to put words on the legacy of a record-breaking senior class.

'These kids loved playing for Iowa,” Bluder said. 'And the funny thing is, every one of them was from out of state.”

The Hawkeyes' deepest NCAA tournament run in 19 years came to a halt Friday night with an 81-66 loss to Baylor in a regional semifinal at Chesapeake Energy Arena. It also closed the book on the most prolific class in Iowa women's basketball history.

When Kristi Smith, Megan Skouby and Wendy Ausdemore departed in 2009, they did so as the highest-scoring trio from the same class in Big Ten history with 4,237 points.

Samantha Logic, Melissa Dixon and Bethany Doolittle eclipsed that total with 4,379 points.

'We're going to miss them so much on the court and off,” said junior Kali Peschel. 'They taught us so much - how to be teammates, friends. We had so much chemistry and so much fun with them.”

Logic's final career totals are staggering: 1,546 points (10th all-time at Iowa), 922 rebounds (No. 2), 898 assists (No. 1, by a mile, in a record that may never be broken) and 260 steals (No. 2). She's the exclusive member of the 1,500-900-800-250 club in NCAA Division-I history.

Dixon added 1,480 points and a school-record 334 3-pointers. Doolittle bows out with 1,353 points, 650 rebounds and 278 blocks, which ranks second all-time. Doolittle suffered a broken nose in her finale.

Kathryn Reynolds also departs; she's on track for a law career someday.

Those four led the program to heights it hadn't seen since the Stringer era. Iowa went 93-42 the past four years, 26-8 this season.

'This team is going to be part of my life, all my life,” said Logic, whose final game coincided with her sixth career triple-double. 'We didn't play well enough to win. But we battled.”

Now, the question is, how does this program sustain this level without a backtrack? That will be a challenge.

Two starters return. Forward Ally Disterhoft will be a junior; guard Whitney Jennings a sophomore.

Peschel will be a senior; she played some of the best ball of her career down the stretch this season. Chase Coley improved as her freshman season progressed. She was competitive with Baylor's big girls in 11 minutes Friday.

Alexa Kastanek and Claire Till figure to be in the rotation next year, and the Hawkeyes welcome a solid recruiting class that will consist of forwards Megan Gustafson (Port Wing, Wis.), Tagyn Larson (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Hannah Stewart (Minot, N.D.) and guard Tania Davis (Grand Blanc, Mich.).

'We have to start jelling from the get-go,” Disterhoft said. 'And we have to step up and be leaders on the court. It's going to have to be a group effort.”

The Hawkeyes will take a foreign trip this summer, to Italy.

'That's going to be great for us,” Bluder said. 'That will help a lot in building chemistry with a young team.”

Maryland came into the Big Ten with a bang this season, running the table in the regular season and following with a conference tournament title. The Terrapins aren't going anywhere. Ohio State and Minnesota figure to be their chief challengers.

If the pieces come together, though, a ninth straight NCAA bid is within reach for the Hawkeyes.

'I've refused to think about next year,” Peschel said. 'We've learned a lot from these seniors. We have big shoes to fill.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com