The Iowa women’s basketball team will travel to Amesto compete in its biggest game yet.
By Mario Williams
Iowa women’s hoops currently sit at 8-1, but there’s still more work to do. Up next, the team will compete in a tough environment in Ames against Iowa State in the Iowa Corn Cy-Hawk series.
The Hawks have had quite a bit of success both home and on the road.
Hilton Coliseum will be loud
Iowa has done well on the road, and the team finds no worries that it will continue that stretch into Ames. However, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder and Company have noted that playing in Hilton Coliseum won’t be easy.
Bluder credited their fans for it being difficult playing in Ames and how unapologetic they are on cheering on the Cyclones.
Iowa State is undefeated at home in the Cy-Hawk series, and in this series each team has won the event at home. The Hawkeyes are looking to break that tradition.
“We know they’ll be playing in front of a great environment, as they always do,” Bluder said. “We’ve got our work cut out for us this week. I do have confidence in our team though.”
Despite having a loss on the road against George Washington in the Lone Star Showcase, and continuing to be undefeated in Carver-Hawkeye the Hawkeyes believe they’ve played better on the road.
“Going into Iowa State it’s going to be a very tough challenging game, and a very tough environment, but you can’t put too much emphasis on it,” sophomore Whitney Jennings said. “Playing on the road gives us a lot on confidence going into Friday.”
Defending the Cyclones
Iowa State has had success on both ends of the floor. Defensively, the Cyclones can transition well, and offensively they like to shoot. That doesn’t come as a surprise to the Hawks, and their offense is capable of shooting a lot, too.
The Cyclones average 75.9 points per game, while Iowa averages 77.9 per game. Junior Seanna Johnson leads both teams, averaging 17.4 points per game.
One thing in particular that Iowa will need to look for is defending Iowa State from downtown. The Cyclones shoot from behind the arc 36.5 percent of the time and make a little less than one-third of those attempts. However, in its three losses of the season, they’ve only shot 24 percent or worse from distance.
Junior Alexa Kastanek — who has been shooting well from 3-point range this season — knows just how imperative it can be to cover a good shooter.
“Coming from a shooter, it’s a lot harder to take a contested three, than just standing and having a wide-open three,” Kastanek said. “We need to just get out on their shooters.”
Disterhoft will be key
Way before the 2015-16 campaign tipped off all eyes were on the senior, in hopes to see how she could lead this team after its leading trio departed.
The guard has had no trouble and has found success from all ends on the floor thus far. Disterhoft leads the team in scoring, averaging 16.1 per game and has hit double figures in every contest.
Being an Iowa City native, and one of three Iowa natives on the team, she knows how critical this rivalry is.
“We’re going to stress to our team just how big of a game this is,” Disterhoft said. “Growing up here you recognize that, but our team is full of a bunch of competitors so they know at the end of the day we’re going to have to get after it.”
Follow @marioxwilliams for Iowa women’s basketball news, updates, and analysis.
