Nov. 24, 2009
Final Stats
The Peacock women's basketball team took the short bus trip to the state capital tonight for a match up with the Vikings of Grand View University. Upper Iowa trailed by five points at halftime, but Grand View dominated the first ten minutes of the second half, 26-8, and raced to a nineteen point victory, 78-59. The loss drops UIU's record to 0-5 on the season, while GVU improves to 7-3.
The Peacocks crept out to a one-point lead after the first four minutes of the game, but the Vikings outscored their guests 16-5 over the next seven and a half minutes to push out to a double digit lead, 24-14. UIU got back within four after back-to-back trifectas by Karina Berinobis and Inga Briede. The two teams finished the half evenly as the home team headed to the break with a five-point lead, 35-30.
Kenya Howard led UIU in scoring and rebounding in the first half with 11 points and 6 boards. The problem for Upper Iowa in the first half was that aside from Howard's 4-6 shooting, the rest of the team only hit 7 of their 29 attempts from the field.
Both teams came out of the locker room a bit slow as the first bucket didn't come inside the first two minutes of the half. After the Vikings broke the seal on top of the rim, it was hard for the Peacocks to slow them down again. Over the next eight and a half minutes, Grand View took command and outplayed Upper Iowa on the offensive end. The home team took their five-point halftime lead and pushed it to a twenty-three point lead, 61-38. The Peacocks steadied themselves over the final minutes, but they were not able to drop the deficit under fifteen points the rest of the way and lost the contest 78-59.
Howard continued her great play in the second half leading Upper Iowa on the night with 27 points and 8 rebounds. The senior shot 9-12 from the floor including a three-pointer and added 8 free throws. Paige DeVine tallied 11 points, while Cassandra Deiters chipped in 8. Upper Iowa shot just a tad over 31% from the floor, but only managed 21% from behind the three-point line.
The Vikings won the rebounding battle over the Peacocks 45-34. After Howard's eight boards, Upper Iowa got 6 rebounds from Lana Otting, and five caroms from DeVine, Deiters, and Chelsea Arndt.
Upper Iowa will host the South Australian Sports Institute on Friday afternoon, Nov. 27 at 4 p.m. The game in Dorman Gym is an exhibition game and will not count toward the team's record.
