By JOHN BOHNENKAMP
IOWA CITY, Iowa — Dani Carnegie always had the resumé.
But like with any player coming in as a transfer, Carnegie had some adjusting to do coming to Iowa in the offseason.
Her comfort level is rising.
Carnegie had 22 points on what was a milestone night for her as the No. 10 Hawkeyes defeated Northern Iowa 78-40 on Thursday night at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
It was a defensive show for the Hawkeyes, who are now 29-3 all-time against Panthers, with wins in 18 of the last 19 games of the in-state series. They have held UNI to 81 points combined in the last two matchups.
But the win was also a step in the transition for Carnegie, a 5-9 guard from Mount Vernon, N.Y., playing for her third program in as many years.
Carnegie is a 46.6% shooter and leads the Hawkeyes in scoring at 16.6 points per game, but has made just 7 of 30 3-point attempts and has, it seems, been rushing her shots at times in the first four games of the season.
But Carnegie was 9 of 13 from the field in this game, and also led the Hawkeyes with six assists.
“Yeah, I do feel like I’m settling in now,” Carnegie said. “I’m confident in my game, and I know my teammates trust me.”
Carnegie is showing that she is the player Iowa coach Jan Jensen expected when Carnegie chose the Hawkeyes after leaving Georgia. She was a first-team All-SEC selection with the Bulldogs last season, a year after being the ACC’s Sixth Player of the Year at Georgia Tech.
But there’s even a transition period for a coach learning a new player, and Jensen has had that with Carnegie.
“I think that we’re getting there,” Jensen said. “You kind of learn when to coach them hard or when to have a softer shoulder with them. But Dani has tremendous potential.”
“She’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever been coached by before,” Carnegie said of Jensen. “I just think she’s keeping me level-headed and I know that all players do this, all players go through something.”
The Hawkeyes (3-1) felt like there was something to prove after Sunday’s 91-79 loss at UConn. They were able to stick in the top 10 of the Associated Press poll, but they also knew they weren’t very top-10 looking against the Huskies on national television.
UNI (1-2) took the punishment for that loss. Iowa led 40-11 at halftime, just one point off the program record for least number of points allowed in a half.
Northern Iowa was 5 of 24 shooting for the first half, including 1 of 11 in 3-pointers, and committed 17 turnovers. The Hawkeyes closed the half with a 20-2 run, while the Panthers had one scoreless stretch of almost 6 ½ minutes and another of 5 ½ minutes.
No UNI player scored in double figures for the game — Jenna Twedt led the Panthers in scoring with eight points.
“I know that after the UConn game, we wanted to come out and just show that we’re still Iowa and that we’re still a top-10 team,” said freshman McKenna Woliczko, who just missed a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Woliczko had personal motivation as well — she had just four points and made 1 of 5 shots against the Huskies.
“The UConn game was definitely a ‘freshman game’ for me,” Woliczko said. “ One game doesn’t define me as a player or a team, so I knew that we were going to come in against UNI and be us.”
Carnegie had 13 points in the first half, the last two coming on a layup at the buzzer that also gave her 1,000 points for her career.
She didn’t know about the mark until she got to the locker room.
“‘Oh, you had a thousand points,’” Carnegie said. “OK, cool.”
Photo: Iowa’s Dani Carnegie shoots during Thursday’s win over Northern Iowa. (Brian Ray/hawkeyesports.com)
