At some point, the Iowa women's basketball team will lose a game, right? Probably? Maybe? Hopefully that doesn't happen until the 2012-2013 season tips off at this rate, though. Iowa ended the 2011-2012 regular season with their eighth straight win, a 79-71 victory over Michigan (their second win over the Wolverines in the span of a week). It was Senior Day, and senior Kamille Wahlin had a nice game (19 pts, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) in her send-off, but the stars of the show were a pair of true freshmen: Melissa Dixon (a team-high 22 points on 6/15 (!) shooting from 3-point range) and Samantha Logic (a triple-double of 13 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists). Logic, mind you, is a point guard, but she's clearly already a very well-rounded talent (this is something like the fourth or fifth straight game where she's led the team in rebounds). The future appears quite bright for the ladies.
Of course, that's not to slight the present, which is looking pretty promising, too. The win put Iowa at 19-10 overall and 11-5 in league play. That 11-5 mark was good enough for a four-way tie for second place in the league with Ohio State, Purdue, and Michigan State. The operative tiebreaker in that situation was record against other teams at 11-5. Ohio State came out on top there (3-0), with Iowa finishing second (2-2), followed by Purdue (2-3) and Michigan State (1-3), meaning that Ohio State earned the second seed, Iowa grabbed the third seed, and Purdue snatched the four seed. It marks the fifth straight year that Iowa has earned a top-four seed (and a first-round bye), which is a nice feather in Lisa Bluder's cap.
With that three-seed, Iowa will face the winner of the #6 Nebraska/#11 Northwestern first round game at 1pm CT on Friday. Northwestern would be the more desirable opponent by far -- Iowa went 2-0 against them this year, beating them by an average of 23 points a game. On the other hand, Iowa went 0-2 against Nebraska, losing a pair of close games (77-72 at home and 60-53 in Lincoln). The loss in Lincoln was actually the last game Iowa lost this season. Speaking of that streak, at eight in a row it's moving into pretty heady territory. They last won eight league games in a row in the 07-08 season and last won so many games in a row at the end of the season back in 89-90. Best of luck to the ladies as they begin their quest for postseason glory this weekend; we'll keep you apprised of their progress at the Big Ten Tournament.