Iowa women face tall order against No. 10 Iowa State and 6-6 center Stephanie Soares
By Susan Harman
IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Big Game is here and with one notable exception the faces will be familiar. No. 10 Iowa State visits Carver-Hawkeye Arena Wednesday night at 6 p.m. (ESPN2) for a game with state bragging rights and NCAA tournament implications.
“We’re so lucky that two of the bigger schools in Iowa are ranked so highly,” Iowa center Monika Czinano said. “We get to play this rivalry game as a ranked team; we get to play on our home court. It shows how big women’s basketball is in Iowa.
“We’re all really excited. I know I’m not from Iowa, but after five years I kind of feel like I’m from Iowa. It means a lot; it means a lot to the state.”
For 16th-ranked Iowa (6-3), it is the last time it will play against a ranked team before traveling to Michigan on Jan. 7 and thus the last time in its non-conference season it can pad its resume. While ISU (6-1) still has No. 25 Villanova this month, this game has the same NCAA import as it does for Iowa. Both teams lost to ranked opponents in Portland, and Iowa followed up with a home loss to No. 12 North Carolina State. Both will play other ranked teams in their conference schedules, but this is the last hurrah for the non-conference slate.
The players involved haven’t changed much. ISU is still anchored by All-American Ashley Joens of Iowa City, having perhaps her best season, clever point guard Emily Ryan and shooting guard Lexi Donarski. But the Cyclones have added 6-foot-6 center Stephanie Soares, a grad student who played NAIA ball for four years at The Master’s, a religious school in California.
“I think she’s a huge difference maker for them,” Iowa coach Lisa Bluder said.
Soares changes the Cyclones completely. They have gone from a post-by-committee approach to adding a tall, agile presence in the post who can also shoot the three. Soares moves fluidly inside or out. She is shooting .368 from 3-point range, second only to Joens. She averages a bit more than three blocks per game.
While ISU is still guard-oriented, as almost all Bill Fennelly teams are, they now have an inside game that they haven’t had since All-American Angie Welle roamed Hilton Coliseum 20 years ago. Soares is good enough to have wowed national TV commentators like Rebecca Lobo.

Her presence would seem to bode ill for an Iowa team that did not perform well in the post last year at Hilton. It also enhances the opportunities for the rest of the team to get open shots.
“I think I’m really lucky in this preseason to have played a lot of really good bigs and a lot of height,” Czinano said. “That’s been really good for kind of extending my game. We’re going to watch film, but I have gone up against a lot of really good posts. And from what I’ve seen she looks like a really good post.
“She’s got great range, can drive from almost anywhere on the floor. It’s not something you see a lot in the Big Ten. We’re more traditional back-to-the-basket posts. It’s something new and unique, but I’m really looking forward to it.”
Czinano pointed out that Soares is scoring more (16.3 ppg) for ISU than previous post combinations and both teams want their starters on the floor and not on the bench in foul trouble.
Both teams feature offenses that thrive in transition, yet both were unable to get that going in last season’s game.
“They still want to push the ball,” Bluder said. “They’re still a great 3-point shooting team.”
“The biggest thing for our transition game is getting stops,” Iowa guard Caitlin Clark said. “That’s our best offense. The teams we’ve played know that as well. Some teams haven’t even crashed (the boards) because of our transition offense.”
The last time the Cyclones visited they played in front of cardboard cutouts and attendance was restricted.
“I’ve never played Iowa-Iowa State in Carver with fans,” Clark said.
But she did remember her team’s dramatic comeback in the final quarter when the Hawkeyes outscored the Cyclones 26-7 to win by 82-80. Iowa reported that 12,743 tickets had been sold as of Tuesday afternoon.
“These are the games that prepare you for March,” Clark said. “I think it will be even louder than some in the NCAA tournament.”