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Hawkeye Women's Basketball Preseason Notes
Oct. 14, 2009
IOWA HISTORY HOME SWEET HOME LOOKING AT THE ROSTER Iowa returns 43.7% of its scoring and 56.4% of its rebounding from a year ago. The Hawkeyes also return 57% of their assists, 52.5% of their steals and 50.3% of their minutes played from the 2008-09 season. YOUNG HAWKEYES HOME GROWN HAWKEYES Those players include Trisha Nesbitt (Ames), Kelly Krei (Iowa City), Kelsey Cermak (Norwalk) and Jaime Printy (Marion). LAND OF 10,000 HAWKEYES Kamille Wahlin (Cookston), Kachine Alexander (Minneapolis), Theairra Taylor (St. Paul) and Hannah Draxten (Fergus Falls) all hail from Minnesota. WAHLIN EARNS BIG TEN HONOR Last season, Wahilin played in all 32 games with 14 starts, averaging 7.6 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists. She started in 18 Big Ten games, and averaged 8.7 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists. Wahilin is the fourth freshmen under Head Coach Lisa Bluder to earn Big Ten all-Freshmen team honors. Johanna Solverson (2003), Krista VandeVenter (2005) and Megan Skouby (2006) were also named to the all-Freshmen team. KASHIN' IN Alexander, who stands 5-9, ranked second in rebounding (9.7), defensive rebounding (7.17), assist/turnover ratio (1.59) and assists (4.5), 10th in offensive rebounds (2.5), 15th in free throw percentage (.757) and field goal percentage (.425), and 18th in scoring (10.9), in Big Ten Conference games only. Additionally, she became the first Big Ten player to ever post two triple-doubles in the same season when she accomplished the feat twice in four games. The Minneapolis, MN, native had 10 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists vs. Northwestern (Jan. 18) and 26 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists vs. Penn State (Feb. 1). Both games were Iowa wins. IOWA IN TWO PRE-CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS The 2009 KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge will serve as Iowa's regular season opener, Nov. 14-15. The Hawkeyes will open the regular season Nov. 14 against Santa Clara at 2:30 p.m. Saturday's first game will feature Illinois State vs. UCLA. Iowa will then play Sunday at 2 p.m. The Hawkeyes have won 18 of the 23 tournaments they have hosted, and boast a staggering 40-6 record. Iowa will travel to Reno, NV, during Thanksgiving break to compete in the Nugget Classic, hosted by Nevada. Iowa's first round opponent is West Virginia (Nov. 27). The Hawkeyes will face either Columbia or Nevada Nov. 28. Game times for the Nugget Classic are still to be determined. BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE The Big Ten/ACC Women's Basketball Challenge matches 11 teams from each conference in head-to-head competition traditionally on the first Wednesday, Thursday and Friday after Thanksgiving. Iowa is 0-2 in Big Ten/ACC Challenge games. The Hawkeyes dropped a 76-57 decision at home vs. Georgia Tech in the innagural season. Iowa lost at No. 12 Duke last season, 71-47. TOUGH SCHEDULE IN `10 The Hawkeyes will play two teams from the Big 12, one from the ACC and also face intra-state rivals Iowa State and Northern Iowa on the road. Iowa will also host South Dakota State, who was nationally-ranked a year ago and earned a No. 7 seed in last year's NCAA Tournament. IOWA ON THE BIG TEN NETWORK The Big Ten Network has agreements with more than 250 affiliates, including DirectTV, Dish Network, AT&T U-Verse, Comcast, Cox, Insight, Time Warner Cable and Verizon FiOS. HAWKEYES ON TV The Hawkeyes will have nine games televised by either the Big Ten Network, Mediacom or ESPN2. In addition, 12 games will be streamed live on BigTenNetwork.com. All Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament games will be televised as well. 2008-09 IOWA TIP-INS Iowa pulled off the largest second-half comeback in school history when it rallied from 20 points down to beat Penn State 63-57 on Feb. 15, 2009, in University Park, PA. Kachine Alexander grabbed 282 rebounds, which is the most by a Hawkeye, since Amy Herrig secured 306 her senior season in 1998-99. Iowa won six true road games during the regular season, including five during Big Ten play. The five victories during conference play rank fourth-best in the league. Ohio State, Purdue and Michigan State each had six road wins to rank first. Kachine Alexander, who stands 5-9, finished the regular season ranked second in rebounding, pulling down 9.7 per contest in 18 league games. Also, Alexander attempted 176 free-throws, which is a school single-game record. Kamille Wahlin's 10 assists vs. Michigan on Jan. 26 are believed to be the most by a Hawkeye freshman in a game. She also had 14 points vs. the Wolverines making her the first Hawkeye rookie to ever post a double-double in her first career start. Iowa had four players ranked in the top-15 in Big Ten assists: Kachine Alexander (second, 4.5); Kristi Smith (seventh, 3.44); Kamille Wahlin (11th, 3.06); Wendy Ausdemore (14th, 2.72). Also, three of the four rank high in assist/turnover ratio: Kamille Wahlin (first, 2.04); Kachine Alexander (second, 1.59); Kristi Smith (seventh, 1.29). Iowa shot 80.7 percent (71-88) from the foul line the last two minutes of games, including 85.4 percent (53-62) with under a minute to go. Kamille Wahlin ranked second in assists (3.06), scoring (8.7) and 3-point percentage (.415), third in rebounding (3.6), and fifth in field goal percentage (.446), amongst Big Ten freshmen, amongst Big Ten freshmen, in conference games only rankings. She boasts a staggering 2.3 assist/turnover ratio in her 13 starts. MEYER NAMED WOMEN'S BASKETBALL COMMITTEE CHAIR Meyer's term as chair will begin Sept. 1. Currently serving her fourth year as a member of the committee, she will succeed Jacki Silar, associate director of athletics at Duke University, who is serving as chair of the committee for 2008-09 and will continue to serve on the committee for the 2009-10 academic year. "To have had the opportunity to work alongside past chairs Joni Comstock, Judy Southard and Jacki Silar for the last four years has been a great experience. Their leadership has been extraordinary," Meyer said. "To be selected chair of this committee is an honor. With so many good things happening in our game, it's an exciting time to be working with the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship."
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