Hawkeyes bounce back, take care of business against Lindenwood

On a snowy day in Iowa City where travel was less than advisable, a crowd of roughly 6,000 braved the elements to watch the Iowa Women’s Basketball team. They were rewarded nicely, as the Hawkeyes earned a bounce back, 102-68 win over OVC favorite Lindenwood behind a standout performance from Hannah Stuelke. With the win, Iowa moves to 10-1 on the season.

“I was happy with their overall performance…that’s a nice (Lindenwood) team. They shoot the ball really well. Amy Eagan does a really good job,” said head coach Jan Jensen. “(The ISU game) showed us a lot of things that we can improve on, and I think we did (tonight). I have to watch the film. There were some different parts of our offense that I think we just forgot to utilize. We did better tonight.”

It was a sloppy start to the game, with the Hawkeyes turning it over four times in the first five minutes, but getting the ball to Hannah Stuelke early and often proved to be fruitful. She put up 11 points in the first quarter, including seven points during a 12-3 run that opened up a 22-10 lead for the Hawkeyes.

“It felt good. I haven’t been making my shots like I want to,” said Stuelke. “It felt good going into next week’s game. I think this will be a turning point for me. We’ll see from here.”

It was a 15-7 run in the second quarter, that included made shots on seven of eight possessions that allowed Iowa to open up a 39-22 advantage. From there, the Hawkeyes were rolling, taking a 50-34 lead into the locker room at halftime.

For a brief moment, to open the second half, a 6-0 run from Lindenwood cut the lead to 50-40. However, Jan Jensen’s squad answered with an 11-4 run, including six points from Ava Heiden and that was that. That run was just the beginning of Iowa outscoring the Lions 52-28 over the final 18:08 of the game en route to a 34-point win.

The big takeaway? The Hawkeyes got bounce back performances for their frontcourt after they were dominated by Audi Crooks and the Cyclones in Ames. Hannah Stuelke was the leader, finishing with a season-high 31 points on 13-of-18 (72.2%) shooting, but they also got 14 points from Ava Heiden and 11 points from Layla Hays. For the game, Iowa outscored the outsized Lions 58-28 in the paint.

“I gave them a shoutout in the locker room because I feel like they did a lot of good, intense work these last couple of days in practice,” said Jensen. “Even though the opponent wasn’t as formidable in size, I thought they were really paying much more attention to detail.”

“Really, this whole year, we haven’t seen Hannah be Hannah. In Ames, if Hannah’s even half of who she is, maybe it’s a different outcome…I’m hopeful. When she came out one time, I just reminded her, I said, “that’s who you are” and it was nice to see, and I hope she can draw on that.”

Journey Houston was notable again, putting up ten points and six rebounds of 15:02 of court time. She continues to make plays where she is seemingly in the right place at the right time. A five-star recruit when she committed to Iowa, an ACL injury caused her to fall out of the ESPN Top 100 to a four-star level. Houston has outplayed her final recruiting ranking through early part of her freshman campaign.

“It is (at chip on my shoulder). At the end of the day, it means something, but it doesn’t because I know what I’m capable of. I do use it as motivation,” said Houston. “I’ve always had a knack for the ball. I try to box out and watch if it’s a long shot or if it’s going to be along rebound. Just stay ready at all times.”

On the night, the Hawkeyes shot 57.7% (41-of-71) from the floor and 38.1% (8-of-21) from three-point range. Outside of the interior domination, Taylor McCabe knocked down three triples, finishing with nine points and five assists, while Taylor Stremlow added eight points, four rebounds and seven assists. In total, six Hawkeyes finished with 8+ points.

Chit-Chat Wright left the game early in the second quarter out of an abundance of caution, while Emely Rodriguez (back) missed her fifth straight game. Jan Jensen spoke about them each briefly after the game.

“She was a little bit concerned and nervous about it, so we thought, let’s chill it,” said Jensen on Wright leaving the game early.

As for Rodriguez, Jan’s quote did not answer much on her status going forward saying, “There’s a lot of things I’m trying to figure out with that one. Definitely day-to-day”.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes will travel east for a matchup with the top-ranked UConn Huskies at the Women’s Champions Classic in Brooklyn. Tipoff on Saturday is set for 12:30pm CT on FOX.