Samantha Logic leads Iowa past home-state Badgers
Samantha Logic made sure the final visit to her home state would be one to remember.
Logic poured in a career-high 30 points and grabbed seven rebounds Sunday, lifting No. 16 Iowa to an 87-75 win over Wisconsin (8-14, 4-8 Big Ten) at the Kohl Center in Madison.
The Racine, Wis., native improved to 4-0 in her career when returning to her home state as Iowa notched its 14th consecutive win over the Badgers.
Iowa improved to 19-4 with the win and moved to 10-2 in Big Ten play with its seventh win in a row at Madison.
"It's just so special, they don't get to see me in person very much and it's the last time I will play here in front of them for Iowa," Logic said of playing in front of her family and friends in Wisconsin. "I just have had so much support from everyone from Racine and from the Milwaukee and Madison area."
Logic had 20 of her career-high 30 in the second half as Iowa quickly expanded a 42-38 halftime lead.
The 30-point outburst by Logic led four Iowa players in double figures and continued her career mastery over the Badgers in her home state.
The senior point guard has averaged 19.5 points in four career games at the Kohl Center
Logic, who posted double-doubles in each of her first three games in Madison, has also averaged 10.3 rebounds and seven assists at the Kohl Center.
"She is a hometown hero, you can tell by how many people come here to watch her play," Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said. "I'm just so proud of her that she chose Iowa because she makes my job really easy."
Bethany Doolittle added 18 points and five rebounds and Ally Disterhoft chipped in with 17 points and seven rebounds as Iowa shot 56.9 percent from the floor.
Freshman Whitney Jennings added 10 for Iowa, which scored 87 points despite getting only two points on 0-of-4 shooting from leading scorer Melissa Dixon.
"They were not going to help off of Melissa so we have a lot of other weapons," Bluder said. "We score 87 points and Melissa Dixon only has two, we are a team and if you are going to take away one person we are going to hurt you with others."
Wisconsin led by as many as nine in the first half before a late Iowa rally gave the Hawkeyes a four-point halftime lead.
A pair of free throws by Disterhoft tied the score at 34-all with 1:28 left in the opening half.
Disterhoft's 3-pointer 56 seconds before the half gave Iowa a 37-34 lead it would never give up and started an 8-4 Hawkeye run to end the frame.
Logic and the Hawkeyes wasted little time putting the game away in the second half.
Iowa opened the second half on a 19-2 run that spanned more than five minutes and turned a four-point lead into a 61-40 margin.
Logic scored 13 points during the 19-2 run, including a pair of conventional 3-point plays and her only 3-point field goal of the game.
"It was the Sam Logic show," Bluder said. "She was amazing, she had a career-high with 30 points, she shoots 12-for-18 and I thought her transition offense was amazing."
The senior eclipsed her previous career high of 28 points, set against UC Riverside in 2013, and also moved into a tie for fourth-place all time in Big Ten history with 791 assists.
Iowa led by as many as 25 in the second half after Doolittle's jumper with 8:44 left and never let Wisconsin get closer than 14 until the final minute.
"In transition we were getting going and were just trying to attack the rim," Logic said. "We weren't doing that so much in the first half, especially because we weren't getting stops on defense and when we got those steals and deflections or rebounds we tried to get out and push."
Tessa Cichy led Wisconsin with 20 points while Jacki Gulczynski added 14 points and Nicole Bauman and Cassie Rochel each had 12.
Iowa returns to action at 8 p.m. on Thurday when it travels to Nebraska.