The Peacock women's basketball team made the short trip over to Waverly, Iowa to take on the Knights of Wartburg College on Thursday night for an exhibition game at Levick Arena. The game was played for charity, as the proceeds from the game went to the American Red Cross for hurricane relief. Upper Iowa is a former member of the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference where they would compete against Wartburg twice a season. The Knights used the "charity" stripe Thursday night to their advantage, as they held a 12-point lead in free throws to earn the 74-62 win over UIU.
Upper Iowa can take away multiple positives from their performance, and it starts on the offensive side of the floor. The Peacocks shot an even 50% from the floor, connecting on 24-48 shots. The team also converted 5-10 from behind the arc, and never shot worse than 45% in a quarter from the field. UIU made 18 trips to the foul line, but shot just 50% for the game. Wartburg took advantage of their trips to the line, as they converted 21-26 from the charity stripe, which helped propel them to the win.
The Peacocks trailed 27-18 at the end of the first quarter. Wartburg stormed out the gate, and took advantage of UIU fouls right away as they converted 8-9 from the line. In the second quarter, the defenses played better, as the Knights from the frame 15-12. The home team led 42-30 at halftime, and would not relinquish the lead at all in the second half.
Upper Iowa got within five a couple times in the second half, but Wartburg continued to hit free throws to ice the game. Upper Iowa won the third quarter 17-10 behind 6-13 shooting, and the defense buckled down to hold the Knights to just 4-14 from the field. In the fourth quarter, the Knights converted 11-14 from the charity stripe to win the game.
Individually,
Blair Klostermann, who is coming off an injury and did not start, played her first minutes of the pre-season and led the way with 18 points on 8-11 shooting.
Haley Martin and
Bekka Pierson each added 10 points as starters, while
Ashley Rosenstiel contributed with 9 points as well.
Savannah Domeyer led the way with seven rebounds, while Klostermann grabbed six. Rosenstiel, Pierson, and Martin each added four rebounds as well.
Madison Smith dished out a team-high five assists for the Peacocks.
Upper Iowa opens the regular season at home. The team is hosting the MIAA/NSIC Tournament in Fayette on Nov. 10-11. The Peacocks will take on Ft. Hays State University at 8 p.m. on Friday and Missouri Western State University at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The fourth team in the mix for the tournament is fellow NSIC-member Southwest Minnesota State University. The Mustangs will take on MWSU on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and FHSU on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
