Hawkeyes' Opener Is Sloppy, But It's A Win

Iowa women open regular season with 85-53 victory over Florida Atlantic.

Monika Czinano didn't know the numbers until someone mentioned them in the post-game press conference.

Iowa and Florida Atlantic combined for 49 turnovers and 53 fouls in Thursday's women's basketball season opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Czinano, Iowa's sophomore center, started to answer a question about something else and then the numbers struck her.

"That's insane," she said, laughing.

"It was not," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said, "a pretty game."

No, it wasn't.

Iowa's 85-53 win took 2 hours, 15 minutes to complete because of the sloppiness, prompting Bluder to quip that it was probably a good idea the game started at 6:30 p.m.

"Like Coach said, it wasn't a pretty game," senior guard Kathleen Doyle said. "But it was a win."

The Hawkeyes were an Elite Eight team in the NCAA Tournament last season, but this is a different group playing a different offense that previous Bluder teams have played. The up-and-down style is designed to take advantage of the speed of Iowa's guards, but it also led to 24 turnovers.

"We have to work out the kinks," Doyle said. "But that's going to happen trying to implement a new offense."

Doyle, who passed the 1,000-point mark for her career in the game, led the Hawkeyes with 15 points. Czinano, taking over the position vacated by national player of the year Megan Gustafson, had 14 points despite getting into second-half foul trouble. Alexis Sevillian finished with 12 points.

The Hawkeyes got big games from two freshmen. Gabbie Marshall had 11 points, while McKenna Warnock had 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Iowa led just 38-29 at halftime, but held Florida Atlantic to just 24 second-half points. The Owls were 5-of-28 from the field in the second half.

1,000-POINT CLUB: Doyle needed just seven points to reach the 1,000-point mark and she got those in the first quarter.

Doyle heard the public address announcer say something about the milestone, but she couldn't enjoy it.

"At that point, we were down, so I was more focused on that," she said.

FREE THROWS MATTER: Iowa was 31-of-40 in free throws.

"Our offense is designed to get us to the free-throw line," Bluder said.

Iowa had 18 assists with 23 field goals.

"Again, good sharing of the basketball," Bluder said.

FRESHMAN MOMENTS: All four of Iowa's freshmen scored in the game.

Besides Marshall and Warnock, Kate Martin had four points, and Megan Meyer had three.

BANNER NIGHT: Iowa's banner commemorating last season's Big Ten Tournament championship and Elite Eight run was unveiled before the game.