Dec. 15, 2008

Final Stats

The Upper Iowa women's basketball team hosted the Duhawks of Loras College on Monday night in the team's final game before the holiday break. The two teams are former rivals from the days when the Peacocks were members of the Iowa Intercollegiate Conference and NCAA Division III. The Duhawks came out in the first half and shot a blistering 55% from the field in the first half including 7 of 13 shooting from behind the arc. Upper Iowa managed only 30% shooting in the first half and only connected on 3 of their 15 attempts from deep. Upper Iowa cut into the Loras lead in the second half, but never got the margin into single digits as they dropped the contest 83-66. With the loss, Upper Iowa falls to 4-6 on the year, while Loras improves to 6-3.

The visitors wasted no time in establishing an early lead over the first three minutes. The Peacocks trailed 12-2 early and continued to struggle as the clock wound down to twelve minutes. After the Duhawks' fifth three-pointer, Upper Iowa trailed 27-9. The Peacocks could not get anything started as their opponent continued to hit shots at a high rate. The home team was able to cut the margin to thirteen, 37-24, with just over five minutes to play in the first half, but Loras outscored Upper Iowa 9-5 over the remainder of the half. LC went to the locker room with a 46-29 lead.

Upper Iowa opened the second half with a small run, 6-2, to cut the deficit to thirteen points again, but Loras slowly crept back out to a 58-39 lead with 12:42 to play. The Peacocks dug deep once again and slowly chipped away at the lead. UIU pulled to within eleven points, 61-50, with 6:54 to play after a Britney Iredale thee-pointer and jumper. Loras had an answer once again as they pushed their lead back to nineteen points, 73-54, just three and a half minutes later. Upper Iowa would only get as close as thirteen points over the final minutes.

Lyndsay Westgaard led the Peacocks on the night with 15 points and a new career-high in rebounds with 13 including 8 offensive boards. Andrea Downs scored 15, Iredale chipped in 14, and Melissa Fitz netted 11. Lana Otting registered 6 assists for UIU.

Upper Iowa will take a short break for the holidays. The team will return to Prochaska Court and Dorman Gym on Dec. 29 for their final non-conference game of the season against William Penn University. The Peacocks and Lady Statesmen will tip off at 7 p.m.