Two Iowa women's basketball players put themselves in elite company and a true freshman also had one of her best games of the season Thursday during the Hawkeyes' 75-58 victory over Minnesota at Carver Hawkeye Arena.
Junior center Morgan Johnson scored 23 points and added eight rebounds and three blocks, while senior Kamille Wahlin added 19 points, six rebounds and five assists in the win. Johnson became the 32nd player in Iowa history to score 1,000 points, while Wahlin became the first player in Iowa program history to have 400 assists and 200 made 3-pointers.
"First of all, I want to congratulate Morgan," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. "Pretty elite club. Wonderful for her to be able to get in there and do it in her junior year with a year left to go. Pretty thankful she has a year left.
"Good victory for us. I thought we came out both halves really strong. We shot the ball well tonight. We did a good job on the boards. I was worried about the boards. The key to the victory was we had to do a good job on the boards. I thought we did a tremendous job, 43 to 26, we held them to six offensive rebounds"
Freshman Sam Logic also had a big game for Iowa as she tied a career high with 20 points and also added nine rebounds and six assists. Iowa also got nine rebounds and four assists from senior Kelly Krei on Kelly Krei Bobblehead Night.
Iowa shot 44 percent from the floor and out-rebounded Minnesota 43-26. The Hawkeyes won the game despite turning the ball over 20 times. Iowa had a 10-point advantage from 3-point range and an eight-point advantage from the line.
"I thought we did a good job with our 3‑point shooters, too," Bluder said. "That was a strength for them. Banham shooting over 50% from the 3‑point range in the Big Ten season. To hold her to zero, I was happy with our 3‑point defense tonight, as well."
Rachel Banham did score 20 points and grab six rebounds as she continues to make a strong case from Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors. Katie Loberg added 10 points an three rebounds, while Kiara Buford had eight points and five boards.
Iowa native Kionna Kellogg, an Ames High School graduate, only took three shots and had two points and four boards.
Minnesota is now 12-14 overall and 4-8 in Big Ten play, while Iowa improved to 15-10 overall and 7-5 in league play. The Hawkeyes have won four straight games with four games to play.
"We have four games left, two at home, two away," Bluder said. "Sunday's game against Michigan State is very important because it's our solo meeting with them all year. We are tied with them right now. If it comes down to a tiebreaker, head‑to‑head competition is what we go to first of all.
"Having them on our home floor, knowing we're tied with them right now, it's a very important game going into the end of the season here and going into the Big Ten tournament. But I think we have a good feel right now. We've won four in a row. We're playing at home again. I think that we're positioning ourselves well for these last games going into the Big Ten tournament."
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