By Jordan Garretson

jordan-garretson@uiowa.edu

With the holidays approaching, it was only appropriate that Kachine Alexander jubilantly spoke to the local media on Friday as though she were Ralphie Parker on Christmas morning.

The Iowa junior guard may not be receiving a Red Ryder BB gun, but her return to the hardwood this on Dec. 20 could be her favorite present.

The Iowa women’s basketball team (5-5, 0-1 Big Ten) will face Drake (6-2) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.

Sunday’s in-state meeting will mark the first time Alexander has played since Nov. 18 against Kansas. In the seven games Alexander has missed with a  stress fracture, the Hawkeyes have missed more than the 21 points and 15.7 rebounds Alexander had averaged through three games.

Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder and company have missed a kind of energy only “Kach” is capable of generating.

“When Kach comes back on the floor, she raises the level as far as intensity,” said Bluder, who coached at Drake from 1990-2000. “She has that personality. The way she plays, the way she talks, she brings that.”

Bluder said Alexander returned to practice a week ago, initially limited to only shooting drills. Since then, the coaching staff has increased Alexander’s workload.

The 10th-year head coach said she participated in about 80 percent of practice on Friday.

While Alexander will not start against Drake, Bluder is hoping the Minneapolis native will play roughly 15 minutes on the floor.

Even though her time will be limited, the excitement radiating from Alexander’s face as she spoke on Friday could not be denied.

When asked how difficult it was to watch her teammates from the bench, an animated Alexander resoundingly responded, “Gut-wrenching.”

“[Watching from the bench] is just hard,” Alexander said. “You know, the little things that I do, with rebounding and things like that that could help us in little situations that we were having tough times doing — knowing that I could do that, but I wasn’t capable of doing, was hard. And, I don’t know if you guys know this, but I don’t like to sit on the bench.”

Not only will Alexander be back in uniform, but sophomore Hannah Draxten will continue to be eased back into the line-up as well after coping with a herniated disc in her back.

“We’ll actually be dressing 10 players,” Bluder said sarcastically.

Bluder was adamant that the layoff since Iowa’s last contest — a deflating 85-66 defeat at Iowa State on Dec. 10 for the Hawkeyes’ third-straight loss — has benefited the team.

“We’re ready to get out there,” Bluder said. “I think we’ve had a very productive and a very challenging week of practice with our team. I think we’ve really had the opportunity to go back and work on some things that were weaknesses for us and really make it a point of focus. Things like rebounding, and defense, and taking care of the ball.”