No. 15 Iowa edges Jackrabbits

Saturday, December 18

Frost Arena

5 p.m.

South Dakota State University

Iowa

12/18/2010 9:04:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: SDSU Sports Info

South Dakota State's late-game struggles continued as nationally ranked Iowa ended the game on a 13-3 run en route to a 65-54 victory Saturday afternoon in non-conference women's basketball action at Frost Arena.

The Hawkeyes, ranked 15^th in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and 16^th by the Associated Press, improved to 10-1 overall. SDSU, which saw its home losing streak reach three games for the first time since the 1996-97 season, dropped to 4-7 overall.

Trailing 50-48 after a Kristin Rotert basket with 6 minutes and 56 seconds to play in the game, the Jackrabbits missed on a chance to tie as Jill Young made 1-of-2 free throws 35 seconds later.

From there, the Iowa tandem of Kamille Wahlin and Jaime Printy took over. Wahlin scored the six consecutive Hawkeye points and Printy scored the next five, including a back-breaking three-pointer from well behind the line to give Iowa a 61-51 lead. The Hawkeyes made 4-of-6 free throws in the closing seconds before Ashley Eide ended the 13-0 outburst with a three-pointer.

Early on, Morgan Johnson carried the Hawkeyes, scoring the team's first 11 points as Iowa led by as many as six. SDSU took advantage of cold perimeter shooting by the Hawkeyes to go on a 14-1 run over the next three and a half minutes. Macie Michelson's layup with 10:29 remaining in the first half gave the Jackrabbits their largest lead of the game at 21-14.

SDSU would go silent on the offensive end, scoring only one point over the next nine minutes, allowing the Hawkeyes to regain the lead at halftime, 26-25.

The Jackrabbits began to find an offensive flow early in the second half, putting together a 6-0 spurt to take a 40-36 lead with 14:05 to play. Iowa answered with an 11-0 run to go up by seven, 47-40, before SDSU countered one last time. In all, the game featured seven ties and eight lead changes.

Johnson scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field and an 8-for-10 effort from the free throw line. Wahlin scored 10 of her 12 points in the second half and Printy finished with 11.

Despite shooting only 3-of-24 from three-point range, Iowa finished 23-of-56, 41.1 percent, from the field. At the line, the Hawkeyes were 16-of-24, 66.7 percent.

Young led the Jackrabbits with 12 points, with Eide adding 10 points off the bench.

SDSU ended the day 18-of-49 from the field, including 6-of-24 from behind the arc. The Jackrabbits made 12-of-16 attempts at the free throw line for 75 percent.

Rebounding proved to be another key for Iowa, which held a 40-30 advantage on the boards, including an 11-4 edge on the offensive glass which led to a 13-2 disparity in second-chance points. Kachine Alexander paced the Hawkeyes with a game-high nine rebounds, while Kristin Rotert led SDSU with six.

The Jackrabbits close out non-conference action Monday (Dec. 20) at Utah State. Tipoff is slated for noon Mountain Time (1 p.m. Central) in Logan, Utah.

NOTES: Iowa leads the all-time series, 3-0 ... SDSU dropped to 3-1 in the Shrine Game ... the Jackrabbits dropped to 6-5 against Big Ten Conference opponents since moving to Division I at the start of the 2004-05 season ... SDSU's three home losses this season are the most by a Jackrabbit team since posting a 9-4 home record in Aaron Johnston's first full season as head coach (2000-01) ... the Jackrabbits fell to 131-18 at Frost Arena under Johnston ... Jennifer Schuttloffel contributed season highs of seven points and four assists as she started for the second consecutive game in place of an injured Leah Dietel ... SDSU held an advantage in bench scoring the fifth consecutive game, outscoring Hawkeye reserves by an 18-6 margin ... Rotert scored eight points, upping her career total to 1,181, passing Lisa Kurtenbach (1,174 points from 1986-89) for 22^nd place on the SDSU career scoring charts ... the Jackrabbits' leading scorer, Jennie Sunnarborg, was held to three points in only 13 minutes before fouling out ... SDSU is 1-6 this season when trailing at the half and 1-4 when out-rebounded ... the Jackrabbits are 0-3 on Saturdays this season ... SDSU committed 14 turnovers, compared to nine by Iowa ... attendance was 2,005