By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team defeated Eastern Illinois 80-39 on Thursday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in what could be described as the second warm-up act before the much-anticipated main attraction on Sunday.

First-year forward McKenna Woliczko led a balanced Iowa scoring attack with 22 points and with four 3-point baskets.

The former five-star recruit from San Bruno, California has now scored in double figures in both of her games for No. 10 Iowa as she had 10 points in the 73-45 victory over Towson in the season opener this past Tuesday.

Woliczko has worked hard on her 3-point shot in preparation for college, and that worked paid dividends in Thursday’s game as she made 4-of-6 shots from behind the arc.

“I think just the time and effort that we’re putting in before practice; we always do pre-practice stuff and then also we’re constantly working on threes during practice,” Woliczko said. “So I think just the confidence that I’ve been able to build has definitely helped.

“And also with my teammates, they are always telling me to shoot the ball and have the confidence in myself. So to hear that from my own teammates is really good.”

All-Big center Ava Heiden and Georgia transfer Dani Carnegie also scored in double figures for Iowa in Thursday’s win with 15 and 12, points, respectively.

The competition now improves significantly for Iowa as it will face No. 2 Connecticut on Sunday in Storrs, Connecticut.

The Connecticut players should be locked in and determined to bounce back after losing to No. 5 Michigan 77-66 on Thursday in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Connecticut crushed the Hawkeyes 90-64 last December in Brooklyn, New York.

The Huskies made 13 threes in that game while Iowa committed a whopping 26 turnovers.

“We’re not nearly where we need to be to be long-term successful and we’re going to have to get better in the next 48 hours, too, to go into a real hostile environment and play a team that is coming off a loss,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen of Connecticut.

In Thursday’s game, Iowa assisted on 22 of its 31 baskets against Eastern Illinois and was also disruptive on defense, forcing 27 turnovers,

The Hawkeyes led 17-10 after the first quarter, which ended with Carnegie making a layup in transition right before time expired.

Heiden created the scoring opportunity for Carnegie by making a steal near mid-court. Heiden knocked the ball loose and then gained possession as she was diving to the floor. She then passed to Carnegie, who raced down the court for a layup.

Iowa then outscored the Panthers 27-8 in the second quarter, building a 44-18 halftime lead.

The second quarter ended with Georgia transfer Jocelyn Faison making a fastbreak layup right before time expired. Her layup came after Iowa had made its 10th steal in the first half.

Iowa only made 1-of-8 threes in the first half, but that had little effect as Eastern Illinois made just 5-of-17 field-goal attempts overall in the first half and was also out-rebounded 22-13 and committed 17 turnovers.

The lead grew to 60-30 after three quarters, allowing Jan Jensen to empty her bench in the fourth quarter and rest her starters down the stretch.