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INDIANAPOLIS — The Iowa women’s basketball team (18-12) defeated sixth-seeded Penn State (17-13), 82-75, in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal game at Conseco Fieldhouse on Friday.
Third-seeded Iowa faces second-seeded Michigan State (22-8) in a tournament semifinal at 4 p.m. CST on Saturday. The game will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network.
The Hawkeyes advanced to their third-straight Big Ten semifinal despite the fact that junior Kachine Alexander played only 20 minutes. The 5-9 guard led Iowa in scoring during the regular season, but picked up her second personal foul just 3:44 into the game.
She remained sidelined for the rest of the first half, but still managed to score 14 points in just 16 minutes of play in the second half. The Minneapolis, Minn., native finished with 17 points in the game.
“First half, I was so frustrated,” Alexander said. “But I knew that I couldn’t show my frustration. I had to keep my team up and get them going.”
“Kach” had to implement her signature leadership largely from the Iowa bench in the game’s first half. By the time she left the locker room for the second frame, down 32-30, she was more than ready to contribute from the floor.
Alexander wasted no time after the break.
She knocked down the first field goal 29 seconds in to the second half, tying the score at 32-32. That basket sparked a 15-4 Iowa run that put Iowa on top, 45-36, with 15:10 remaining.
Sophomore Kelly Krei provided significant scoring in Alexander’s absence. The Iowa City native scored a career-best 20 points on six-of-nine shooting from the floor, including a five-of-seven mark on 3-pointers.
“I saw [Alexander] go to the bench,” Krei said. “I thought, well, I’ll take a couple shots for her. And it worked out.”
Head coach Lisa Bluder, who called Krei a “phenomenal shooter,” wasn’t surprised by Krei’s performance.
“[3-point shooting] is effortless for her,” Bluder said. “She’s just not greedy enough. You know, we’ve got a lot of good shooters on our team. Kelly has the personality, she’ll defer to somebody else unless called upon.”
Clearly, Krei was called upon tonight — and she delivered.
Maybe it was the arena’s public address announcer erroneously calling Krei by the name of teammate Kelsey Cermak during starting lineup introductions.
“It was funny, I got introduced twice,” Krei said. “But, I mean, you’ve got to put those things behind you, and I think we did a nice job of that.”
Freshman Jaime Printy paced Iowa with 22 points in her tournament debut. Her five assists and six rebounds also tied for team-bests. Fellow freshman Gabby Machado also posted 10 points and collected six rebounds, demonstrating the maturity of the Hawkeye youth.
Printy said her more experienced teammates aided her prior to the game, explaining to her how much fun the the tournament games are.
“It’s just a different environment,” Printy said. “But I don’t think us freshmen were nervous at all. We were just more excited to get here and get going.”
— by Jordan Garretson
