Iowa women bounce back with win over Houston
It didn’t take long for the Iowa women’s basketball team to bounce back from its first loss of the season.
Less than 24 hours after dropping its first game of the season, Iowa responded with a 64-50 win over Houston (1-5) in its final game of the Lone Star Showcase in Austin, Texas.
Ally Disterhoft led four Hawkeyes in double figures with a game-high 15 points. Iowa improved to 6-1 on the season.
“A win is a win, ugly win for sure but it’s a win,” Disterhoft said. “Houston is a really physical team, they kept the pressure on the entire game and they made a little run and we were able to respond in the second half.”
Alexa Kastanek had 13 points and Megan Gustafson and Carly Mohns each came off the bench to add 11 as Iowa overcame 38.5 percent shooting from the floor to win its second game in a stretch of three games in three days.
Iowa shot 54 percent from the floor in the first half and built a 38-23 halftime lead.
The Hawkeyes outscored Houston 22-11 in the second quarter behind seven points from Mohns.
The sophomore made all three of her field-goal attempts in the second quarter, including a 3-pointer.
“Finding the open shot was a big thing,” Mohns said. “I think the team did a good job of finding the open person and looking to have that one more pass.
Mohns finished with a career-high 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting and added three rebounds and two assists.
“I thought Carly Mohns came in and played well for us,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. “That was nice to see.”
Leading by 15 points at halftime, Iowa survived 25 percent field goal shooting in the second half.
The Hawkeyes were just 3 of 14 from the field in the fourth quarter.
“A win is a win and they say an ugly win is better than a pretty loss,” Bluder said. “That is the way we have to look at today but I don’t think we got better today and that’s kind of unfortunate.”
Gustafson led Iowa with eight rebounds and Whitney Jennings added seven rebounds for the Hawkeyes which finished even with Houston in rebounding.
Kastanek led Iowa with three rebounds as the Hawkeyes finished with 12 points and 17 turnovers.
Reach Murken at 319-339-7369 or rmurken@press-citizen.com and follow him on Twitter at @rmmurken.