IOWA CITY, Iowa – 21st- ranked Iowa got off to a hot start on Sunday afternoon and did not look back, downing Evansville by a score of 119-43 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes shot a blistering 64.6% from the field to take the win.
Purple Aces Graduate Assistant Molly Davis was honored in her return to Carver-Hawkeye Arena, having been a key piece in Iowa’s back-to-back national championship appearances in 2023 and 2024.
Logan Luebbers Palmer (Union, Ky./Randall K. Cooper) scored in double figures for the seventh time in her career, leading the Aces with 12 points. Camryn Runner (Cicero, Ind./Hamilton Heights) added 10 points and tallied a team-high three assists. 12 different players saw the floor for Evansville.
Iowa jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first 2:11 of action, but an and-one by Luebbers Palmer and layups by Runner and Georgia Ferguson (Waterloo, Ontario/Cairine Wilson Secondary School) helped the Aces battle back to make it 11-7. However, a 16-0 run for the Hawkeyes helped the home team build a 29-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Luebbers Palmer continued her hot shooting in the second quarter, making two more shots from distance to run her total to the half to three, while freshman Jelena Savic (Melbourne, Australia/Kurunjang Secondary College) scored the first four points of her career. In the final three minutes of the quarter, Iowa used another run to take a 59-22 advantage into halftime.
The third quarter saw another Purple Aces’ freshman enter the scoring column, as Iowa native Sydney Huber (Cedar Rapids, Iowa/Mount Vernon) knocked down a three-pointer for her first collegiate basket. However, the Aces were limited to three field goals as Iowa opened up a 90-30 lead.
From there, the Hawkeyes continued to cruise en route to the win. Odessa College transfer Mireia Mustaros (Barcelona, Spain) scored her first points as an Ace in the quarter, knocking down a three-pointer and a free throw to notch her first points at the DI level.
The Aces return to action on Wednesday with another road test, this time at Eastern Kentucky. Tip-off from Richmond, Ky. is set for 6 PM.
