Iowa Women's Basketball earn a 28th straight win over Wisconsin in Big Ten opener

It’s been over 6,000 days since Wisconsin women’s basketball defeated the Iowa Hawkeyes. February 11th, 2007, the Badgers won in Madison, 84-73. Since then, it’s been a lot of domination from Lisa Bluder and the Hawkeyes. However, today was a different environment inside the Kohl Center, as a crowd of 14,252 fans showed up for the first Wisconsin women’s basketball sellout crowd since 2002. The result however, was not different. A late run in the first half extended the Iowa lead and they pulled away in the second half for an 87-65 win. The Hawkeyes have now won 28 straight games against the Badgers.

“It’s good to start Big Ten play with a 20-point victory on the road. This conference is so hard and any time you go on the road, you’ve got to love it if you get a victory,” said head coach Lisa Bluder. “Really happy with the way we shot the ball, especially in the second half. Our defense in the second quarter I thought was really good and gave us that cushion going into halftime.”

Early in the game, the Badgers were up for the challenge. Serah Williams converted a couple of looks in the paint, while a three-pointer from Brooke Schramek made it 11-5. The Hawkeyes answered with a 7-0 run to take their first lead of the game, but Wisconsin stuck around for much of the first half. A three-pointer from Sania Copeland made it 18-14 and the score was tied 21-21 after the first quarter. The big development was in the post for the Badgers. Their best player, Serah Williams, picked up two fouls in the first quarter and was never able to escape foul trouble. She finished with 15 points, but played just 17 total minutes.

“I’m a big fan (of Williams). I think she’s got great size, she’s athletic. She can be a great stretch four or a five. I think Serah is a tremendous player,” said Bluder. “She got into foul trouble tonight, so we didn’t get to see her at her full strength, thank goodness, because she’s a lot to guard.”

Late in the first half, the Hawkeyes made the run that took them into the half with a double digit lead. A three-pointer from Gabbie Marshall ended an 0/8 start for Iowa from behind the arc to make it 40-33. Then, in the closing seconds of the first half, Syd Affolter drove into the lane and kicked a pass out to Caitlin Clark late in the shot clock for a three-pointer that capped a 10-2 run to end the half. A four-point game became a ten-point game in 77 seconds.

“You go in with a ten-point cushion, instead of just a couple. Mentally, it just helps you so much,” said Bluder. “I thought our clock management was really good in that last minute too.”

“We get reps like that all the time in practice. I heard Caitlin calling for the ball and my drive wasn’t open, so I was looking for a teammate to pitch the ball too and she hit the shot,” said Affolter.

Wisconsin closed the gap to six points 2.5 minutes into the second half after a basket from Halle Douglass, but the three ball helped Iowa blow the lead open. Caitlin Clark drilled a three to get the lead back into double digits, while Kylie Feuerbach knocked down an open look to cap off a 12-2 run and force a Wisconsin timeout. At that point it was 57-41 and the Hawkeyes were well on their way to a 28th straight win over the Badgers.

“I almost feel like it’s contagious. Somebody misses and then everybody starts doubting themselves,” said Bluder. “It second half it was completely different. Maybe we got better shot looks, I’ve got to watch the film to see…I think (the 0/8 start) was more a confidence issue than anything.”

The Hawkeyes coasted from there and went on to win 87-65, behind a 28 point, nine rebound, five assist night from Caitlin Clark. She jumped from 14th on the all-time scoring list up to 10th place, with former Iowa State guard Ashley Joens sitting 19 points ahead of her in 9th place.

After missing three games and playing limited minutes against Iowa State, Hannah Stuelke played 26 minutes for the Hawkeyes off the bench, finishing with 21 points and three rebounds. Getting her back to full strength will be a huge boost for Iowa going forward. Lisa Bluder said she has not decided if Stuelke will make the move back into the starting lineup for Saturday’s game against Cleveland State.

“I don’t know yet. We have a week to make that decision and go through practice,” said Bluder. “I don’t know what our lineup will be for the next game.”

“It was really good to be back to myself today. I was a little bit down and we talked about that,” said Hannah Stuelke. “Coach (Bluder) helped me a lot getting back to myself, which I love her for that. It felt great being back out there today, jumping high.”

Caitlin Clark and Hannah Stuelke combined to score 49 of the Hawkeyes 87 points, but Kylie Feuerbach added eight points, while Syd Affolter stuffed the stat sheet with seven points, 12 rebounds and four assists. With Kate Martin taking a bigger scoring role as of late, Affolter has started to take over the ‘do it all’ role that earned Martin her ‘The Glue’ title from Lisa Bluder.

“Syd, I just love her energy on the floor. I love that she doesn’t back down from anybody. I love that she’s going to scrap for every rebound. To me, that energy you bring when you come off the bench is amazing. It really is so good for the team,” said Bluder. “I’m really proud of Syd because she’s worked really hard the last two years and hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time and now she’s getting the benefit of that (hardwork).”

For the game, the Hawkeyes shot 33/66 (50.0%) from the floor, including 9/22 (40.9%) from three-point range. Iowa outrebounded Wisconsin 40-36, with both teams pulling down 11 offensive rebounds each. The big stat that stands out is that Iowa outscored the Badgers 44-11 in bench points, which was helped by the contributions from Stuelke, Affolter and Feuerbach.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will be at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines for the Hy-Vee Hawkeye Showcase against Cleveland State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for approximately 6:00pm CT after the men’s game against Florida A&M. The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.