HAWK TALK

April 2017

Issue link: https://catalog.e-digitaleditions.com/i/808728

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 16 of 128

17 T o score 2,102 points in a Division I college basketball career takes opportunity, quality teammates, and health. University of Iowa senior Ally Disterho had all that and sprinkled in plenty of talent, too. She joined the two-Hawkeye 2,000-Point Club in overtime at Indiana on Feb. 22 and finished her career as Iowa's all-time leading scorer with 2,102 points. "It is a special feeling knowing your name is up there with a select few people," Disterho said. "I have had a ton of help along the way, being a senior, you realize that. I have had incredible point guards; I was able to play with Sam Logic for two years — she made my life easy scoring-wise. I have had other great point guards and teammates since then." Disterho passed Cindy Haugejorde's previous scoring mark of 2,059 points (from 1976-80) in the first round of the WNIT against Missouri State. She scored 21 points against the Lady Bears, then followed with 10 against South Dakota, 15 against Colorado, and 16 against Washington State. What makes her story more alluring is that Disterho is a local hero, earning Iowa Miss Basketball in 2013 while starring at Iowa City West High School. Her mother, Missy, was teammates with Iowa associate head coach Jan Jensen and assistant coach Jenni Fitzgerald at Drake. As a 9-year-old, Disterho was photographed for Iowa's 2004-05 poster. "I have grown up in Carver-Hawkeye Arena pretty much my whole life," Disterho said. "I grew up going to games and I have been around the program a long time. e program means so much to me." As a freshman, Disterho scored 474 points, second to Jaime Printy's 501 for a first-year Iowa player. Aer 19 games as a reserve, she earned her first start Jan. 19, 2014, at Ohio State, posting a double-double with 24 points and 10 rebounds during an 81-74 victory. Disterho was fourth in scoring as a sophomore with 503 points and her 565 points in 2015-16 are the most by a Hawkeye junior. "Ally came at a great time. We had a need at her position, so she moved into that starting role," Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said. "e timing of that doesn't always happen. She has put in the work with her academics and athletics. She has surpassed everybody's expectations except for maybe her own because she is a very driven young lady." Disterho began her final season 11th on the all-time scoring list with 1,542 points. In time she surpassed a Who's Who of Hawkeye women's basketball: Logic, Morgan Johnson, Tangela Smith, Toni Foster, Franthea Price, Jennie Lillis, Michelle Edwards, Printy, and Lindsey Meder. "You see great potential in every player you recruit and a great career ahead of them," Bluder said. "It's up to them when they get here if they make use of that. Ally's is kind of a fairy tale story: a local product comes here and accomplishes all she has accomplished — an amazing story both academically and athletically." Disterho's academic prowess is a headline of its own. Last season she was named second-team All-Big Ten on the court for a second time, an outstanding feat that was surpassed only by her proficiency in the classroom. Her loy grade-point average and scholarly accomplishments are why Disterho was named CoSIDA Academic All-American of the Year, first- team CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-American, and Academic All-Big Ten for a second time. Next year, Disterho, an accounting and finance major, will be employed by Barclays Investment Bank in New York City. at opportunity comes a year aer she spent the summer of 2016 working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in Chicago. "She approached basketball the same way she did her academics," Bluder said. "She is an incredibly driven young woman, she is a perfectionist almost to a fault, and is a competitor. She never lets down. It's the same drive in the classroom that has made her so successful that she brings on the court." Disterho has also been durable. She played in 137 consecutive games, a streak that began with Iowa's 70-56 victory over UC Riverside on Nov. 8, 2013. Disterho started her final 118 games. She suffered an injury to her wrist near the end of the 2014-15 season, but had an entire offseason to rehabilitate. "I tried to be smart when it came to staying on top of treatment," Disterho said. "I would seek our trainer (Jennie Sertterh) and utilize her because she has great things to offer. I rested when I could and that's pretty much it." Disterho had personal bests of 29 points in a game (Nov. 11, 2016 vs. Oral Roberts), 13 rebounds (Jan. 26, 2015 vs. Nebraska), and eight assists (Dec. 28, 2014 vs. Penn State). All those milestones were set in Carver- Hawkeye Arena and all helped lead the Hawkeyes to victory.

Articles in this issue

view archives of HAWK TALK - April 2017