Iowa Travels to Caribbean for Paradise Jam

THE SETTING
The Iowa Hawkeyes (3-1) will make their first-ever appearance in the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands this week. The Black and Gold will face three teams from major conferences: Texas Tech on Thursday (5:05 p.m.), South Florida Friday (5:05 p.m.) and California Saturday (7:35 p.m.). All games will be played at the Sports and Fitness Center.

ALL-TIME SERIES
Iowa has never faced Texas Tech or South Florida. Saturday will be only the second meeting between Iowa and California. The Bears beat the Hawkeyes, 89-66, at the Sun Devil Classic in Tempe, AZ on Dec. 9, 1982.

PARADISE JAM TIP-INS
• California will be traveling through four time zones to get to the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Iowa will play on Thanksgiving Day for the second-straight year. The Hawkeyes beat Mississippi State last November in Cancun.
• The last time Iowa played three games in three days was at the 2001 Big Ten Tournament. Iowa defeated Purdue, a team that was coached by Kristi Curry at the time, to win the championship.
• Iowa starts the season with seven games in 14 days.
• Sophomore reserve Kelsey Cermak and junior Nicole VanderPol are doubtful for the Paradise Jam due to injury.

HAWKEYES CAPTURE HAWKEYE CHALLENGE TITLE
Iowa picked up wins over Boston University (83-58) and Providence (64-46) last weekend to claim its 18th Hawkeye Challenge title. Megan Skouby was named tournament MVP, while senior teammates Wendy Ausdemore and Kristi Smith were recognized on the all-tournament team. Skouby netted a game-high 21 points vs. Boston, and scored another 13 points against Providence. Ausdemore averaged 11 points and 5.5 rebounds, while Smith averaged 12.0 points and 4.0 assists. For the tournament, Iowa shot 42-51 (.824) from the charity stripe. The Hawkeyes also outrebounded both opponents and had a better shooting percentage.

HOT HAND
Megan Skouby shot 27-45 (.600) from the field and 30-34 (.882) from the free throw line the first four games of the season. She has attempted nearly 16 more field goals than the next Hawkeye (Hamlin - 29) and has attempted 25 more free throws than the next Iowa player (Alexander - 19).

ALEXANDER LEADS REBOUNDERS
Kachine Alexander grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds vs. Providence on Sunday. It marked the second time this season and third time in her career she pulled down double-digit rebounds in a game. The sophomore is Iowa’s leading rebounder (7.0 rpg) after four contests; the guard stands five-foot-nine. Alexander shared team-high rebounding honors in Iowa’s opener vs. Texas State, collecting six and was the leading rebounder at Kansas (10) and vs. Providence (11). The Hawkeyes need to replace 15 rebounds per game they lost due to graduation. Jenee Graham, Johanna Solverson and Krista VandeVenter led the Hawkeyes averaging five rebounds per game a year ago.

AUSDEMORE NEARING 1,000-POINT PLATEAU
Senior Wendy Ausdemore has scored 979 career points, just 21 shy of 1,000. Teammates Megan Skouby and Kristi Smith accomplished the feat last season as juniors.

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