Logic labors through sprain, other Hawkeyes step up vs. Colorado
A sprained MCL kept Samantha Logic from looking exactly like her normal self on Sunday against Colorado.
Thankfully for Iowa, seniors Melissa Dixon and Bethany Doolittle looked every bit like themselves against the Buffaloes.
Dixon had a season-high 23 points and Doolittle notched her third double-double of the season as No. 22 Iowa pulled away for a 78-63 win over Colorado in front of more than 6,000 fans at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Doolittle finished with 11 points and 10 rebounds and Ally Disterhoft added 15 points and eight boards to help the Hawkeyes bounce back from a 34-point loss at seventh-ranked Louisville on Thursday.
The Hawkeyes improved to 7-2 and avoided losing back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 2 and 5 of last season.
"Our focus was really to bounce back today and really to take it to Colorado," Dixon said. "We had a lot of focus in our two practices leading up to today's game, and through the entire game I felt like we were in control the entire time, and we just played Iowa basketball today."
With Logic's playing time limited by the sprained knee suffered against Louisville, the Hawkeyes used big games from Dixon, Doolittle and Disterhoft to snap a five-game winning streak for Colorado (6-2).
Playing with a large brace on her left knee, Logic still started on Sunday and finished with 10 points, four rebounds and four assists. Iowa had four players in double figures.
"It felt pretty good out there," Logic said. "The brace is something that I have to get used to for now, but the knee itself didn't bother me too much."
Logic didn't practice on Friday or Saturday and didn't score a point until beating the halftime buzzer with a putback following an offensive rebound.
The senior point guard had eight points, three assists and three rebounds in 14 minutes of action in the second half.
Logic said she expects her to knee to be fine going forward, including Thursday's meeting with in-state foe Iowa State.
"It's a work in progress after taking a couple days off of practice," Logic said. "The training staff did a really good job of bringing me back, I just want to be out there with my team."
Iowa used a 7-0 first-half run to break a 17-all tie on Sunday and never trailed again. Disterhoft started the run with a 3-pointer from the wing, and after a pair of Dixon free throws, Kali Peschel knocked down a 17-foot jumper to give Iowa a 24-17 lead.
The Buffaloes closed to 27-26 on a 3-pointer by Lauren Huggins with 3:41 left in the half, but Iowa closed the half on a 8-2 run capped by Logic's bank shot that just beat the buzzer for a 35-28 lead.
Dixon hit a 3-pointer six seconds into the second half, and Colorado never got closer than seven points the rest of the way.
"I thought really their spurt to end the first half and start the second half was the difference in the game," Colorado coach and Morning Sun native Linda Lappe said. "We didn't come out after halftime like we needed to especially on the defensive end and rebounding the basketball and they were able to take advantage of that."
After shooting 30 percent from the floor and committing 20 turnovers against Louisville on Thursday, Iowa shot 42 percent and had just 11 turnovers Sunday.
Peschel added eight points for Iowa, which outscored Colorado 18-8 at the foul line.
"I thought our seniors did a tremendous getting everybody refocused after that game," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said of the Louisville loss. "Nobody was hanging their head the next morning everyone was ready to go to work again and that's a good sign."
Reach Ryan Murken at 339-7369 or rmurken@press-citizen.com.