The page turned, Iowa women's basketball eager for a new chapter

IOWA CITY — According to Ally Disterhoft, the Iowa Hawkeyes have "closed the chapter and turned the page" on last season.

"It was difficult at times," she said Wednesday at the Hawkeyes' media day at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

"When things aren't going well, it nags on you. It wears on you."

It leaves a mark emotionally. But Wednesday, the only blemish Disterhoft wore was a burn near her right eye, the result of a mishap with a hair straightener.

'I wish it would have been something more heroic than that,' she said.

Last year's theme — a series of blown leads in the Big Ten season that ultimately shut the Hawkeyes out of a ninth consecutive NCAA tournament — has been replaced by the promise of better days ahead.

The chemistry, the Hawkeyes insist, is better. There's more depth, as the result of the arrival of five freshmen, the No. 7 recruiting class in the country.

And there's more hunger and motivation after last year, which ended at 19-14 (8-10 in the Big Ten) and a first-round exit in the WNIT.

'It's motivated me,' said Coach Lisa Bluder, who begins her 17th season at Iowa. 'It's something that I don't like to talk about. It's something that we (were) really proud of, the (NCAA) streak that we had going.

'We didn't like to see it come to an end, but it did, and now the best thing we can do is learn from that experience and use it as great motivation to return to the NCAA tournament.'

Disterhoft leads a foursome of returning starters. A 6-foot senior guard from Iowa City West, Disterhoft is a preseason all-Big Ten selection with 1,542 career points (the all-time Iowa record is 2,059 by Cindy Haugejorde).

If Disterhoft is a leader by seniority, sophomore point guard Tania Davis is by position.

'I'm here to be a coach on the floor,' Davis said. 'I need to quarterback the offense and the defense and hold everybody accountable. I've taken it upon myself to do that.'

Davis and Megan Gustafson made the all-Big Ten freshman team last year. Gustafson (6-3, soph.) and Chase Coley (6-3, jr.) both averaged in double-figures last year.

Coley has noticed a change in Gustafson's physique through the early stages of practice.

'She's stronger,' Coley said. 'I feel it every day in practice. She has improved so much.'

So with the assumption that Disterhoft, Coley, Gustafson and Davis retain their starting roles, who will join them?

It could be a returner like Alexa Kastanek or Christina Buttenham. Or it could be a freshman, and all five of them have impressed.

'There could be a freshman in our starting lineup,' Bluder said. 'There could be.'

Guards Kathleen Doyle and Makenzie Meyer were Illinois Miss Basketball and Miss Iowa Basketball, respectively, in 2016.

Iowa opens with an exhibition contest Nov. 6 against Lewis University. The first game that counts is Nov. 11 against Oral Roberts.

The home schedule includes a three-game, eight-day stretch that features Notre Dame (quite possibly the No. 1 team when it invades Carver), then Northern Iowa and Iowa State.

Two-time defending champion Maryland is the Big Ten favorite again, followed by Ohio State and Indiana. It will be a challenge for the Hawkeyes to crack the top three, but the beginning of a new NCAA streak certainly is in play.

'I just want to win again. I want to have fun again,' Disterhoft said. 'I have confidence that we will.'

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