By Blake Dowson
The Iowa women’s basketball team got back to work in Carver-Hawkeye Arena Tuesday during its first official workout of the summer.
The Hawkeyes are coming off of one of their more disappointing outings in recent years, a season in which they failed to qualify for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years and were bounced in the first round of the WNIT at home against Ball State.
Head coach Lisa Bluder brings back most of her production from last year, however, including starters Tania Davis, Megan Gustafson, Chase Coley, and Ally Disterhoft, along with key reserves Alexa Kastanek and Christina Buttenham.
The incoming freshman class got to strap them up and work out with the team for the first time Tuesday, making it an important day for the squad.
The freshman class of Makenzie Meyer (No. 79 in ESPN recruiting ranks), Amanda Ollinger (No. 87), and Kathleen Doyle (No. 97), as well as highly touted recruits Bre Cera and Alexis Sevillian make up the No. 7 recruiting class in the nation, according to Blue Star.
Doyle, Illinois’ Miss Basketball from LaGrange Park, had originally committed to play at Nebraska, but after Cornhusker head coach Connie Yori resigned, she reopened her recruitment and landed with the Hawkeyes.
“We are thrilled to add Kathleen Doyle to our Hawkeye family,” Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said in a release. “She is a tremendous basketball player, evidenced by her outstanding awards including being named Illinois Miss Basketball.”
Meyer (Mason City) and Ollinger (Cedar Rapids) add two more Iowa natives to the team. Meyer was named Iowa’s Miss Basketball last year.
Sevillian, from Goodrich, Michigan, was a high-school teammate of Davis.
