Iowa has moved into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament with an 83-62 victory over Illinois in Indianapolis, Indiana on Thursday (March 6, 2014).

The fifth-seeded and 23rd-ranked Hawkeyes will play fourth-seeded  and 16th-rated Purdue in the quarterfinals on Friday at approximately 1:30 p.m. (CT).

Junior center Bethany Doolittle scored a career-best 26 points, finishing two short of tying Iowa’s record for most points in a Big Ten Tournament game. The mark is currently held by Tangela Smith who tallied 28 points against Ohio State in the 1998 tournament.

With the victory, the Hawkeyes improve to 24-7 overall. The 24 victories are the most for Iowa under head coach Lisa Bluder and the most since the Hawkeyes 27-4 campaign in 1995-96. Iowa leads the Big Ten in overall victories this season.

Iowa has won 20 or more games in six of the last seven seasons.

The Hawkeyes entered the tournament fresh off an 81-56 blowout of Illinois in Sunday’s regular-season finale in Iowa City.

Iowa dropped a 74-73 decision at Purdue on February 16th in the only meeting between the two teams this season.

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