IOWA CITY, Iowa – The 2022-23 Iowa women’s basketball team just became a lot stronger as all-Big Ten center Monika Czinano announced on Sunday that she will return for a fifth season.

That means for a third season Iowa will feature one of the best inside-outside combinations in the 6-foot-3 Czinano and All-America sophomore guard Caitlin Clark.

Czinano had the daunting task of replacing for national player of the year Megan Gustafson as Iowa’s starting center, and Czinano has responded to the challenge by twice making first-team All-Big Ten.

The Watertown, Minnesota native is averaging 20.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while shooting 64.5 percent from the field for an Iowa team that is 17-7 overall and 11-4 in the Big Ten.

Czinano is taking advantage of the free year granted by the NCAA in response to the Covid-19 global pandemic.

With senior day approaching people have been asking me a lot of questions… #hawkeyes @IowaWBB pic.twitter.com/ArTq3i8Szw

— Monika Czinano (@MCzinano) February 20, 2022