[College Sports News]

Love the Hawkeyes. Love Iowa women's basketball. Then you'll love "From the desk of Lisa Bluder."

We just concluded our busiest stretch of the year Tuesday, playing six games in 11 days and came away with a 5-1 record and two tournament titles (WBCA Classic and KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge).

I couldn't be more proud of our players. We put forth a demanding early schedule and our players prevailed and met the challenge despite a number of players battling illnesses last week. I'm glad we withstood this early challenge. Our young players demonstrated a tremendous amount of character and determination. Five of our eight healthy players are sophomores, who are maturing with every practice and game.

We outlasted Indiana State last Wednesday and defeated Quinnipiac and Florida International in our tournament last weekend. Unfortunately, we dropped our first game to a very talented and athletic Louisiana Tech team Tuesday night. I'd like to thank the 5,000-plus fans that came out to Carver-Hawkeye Arena and showed their support for "Buck Night". We're very disappointed that we didn't play to our full potential and give our great fans a win going into the Thanksgiving holiday.

Overall, I love our balance scoring. We had four different players lead us in scoring through six games. Everyone contributed to last week's success, including sophomores Wendy Ausdemore and Megan Skouby who were honored on the KCRG-TV9 Hawkeye Challenge All-Tournament team. Furthermore, Megan was recognized as the Most Valuable Player. Both Megan and Wendy are playing with an amazing amount of confidence right now that is translating into great leadership and success on the court.

We will be home for Thanksgiving for the first time since 2001, as the last four years we have played in tournaments away from home. I believe our players can use a couple days of rest to get recharged and will enjoy the time with their families.

Have a great Thanksgiving everyone and GO HAWKS!!!

From the Desk of Lisa Bluder