By John Bohnenkamp

IOWA CITY, Iowa – It was close for about four minutes.

But Iowa’s women’s basketball team went on an epic first-half run, and it wasn’t close anymore.

The Hawkeyes’ 122-49 win over Clarke University on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena closed the exhibition schedule.

Combine this game with the win over DePaul in the “Crossover at Kinnick,” and coach Lisa Bluder thinks her team is ready for the regular season.

Iowa used its size advantage to score 88 points in the paint, part of the reason why, after the game was tied at 10 four minutes in, the Hawkeyes went on a 52-8 run over the rest of the first half.

“I thought we did some really good things, especially our bigs,” Bluder said. “Obviously we had the size advantage, strength advantage. But the 88 paint points are really good.”

Hannan Stuelke led Iowa with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Caitlin Clark had 24 points and nine assists. Sharon Goodman came off the bench to score 14.

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Takeaways from the day:

A GOOD DAY FOR GOODMAN: It’s been two seasons, Goodman said, since she felt as good as she feels right now.

Goodman missed the 2021-22 season after suffering a knee injury in the preseason, and then last season was more about getting back into game shape.

But this game, which included nine rebounds, was a sign that she’s ready to be a big part of the Hawkeyes’ frontcourt rotation again.

“It does feel a lot different (than last season),” Goodman said.

Goodman had two assists, including a bounce pass in the paint that Molly Davis turned into a layup.

“I like making those passes,” Goodman said, smiling. “Most of the time they’ve ended up as turnovers.”

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STUELKE’S CONFIDENCE: Stuelke was the Big Ten’s Sixth Player of the Year last season, but Bluder said she can see the improvement that comes from the freshman to sophomore seasons.

“Now they’ve had a year of working in the weight room, they understand how physical and fast the Big Ten is,” Bluder said. “They just understand it better, and they’re comfortable.”

Stuelke, who was 11-of-15 from the field, knocked down a 3-pointer, but was also 4-of-5 in free throws.

Asked which was better, Stuelke said, laughing, “The 4-of-5 in free throws.”

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FEUERBACH IS BACK: Guard Kylie Feuerbach, who missed all of last season as she recovered from a knee injury, finished with eight points in 19 ½ minutes.

Feuerbach made two 3-pointers, going 2-of-6 from the field.

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THE DEPTH: Ten Hawkeyes played double digits in the minutes.

How deep they can go in the regular season is going to be interesting to see.

“Usually you look at eight or nine deep as pretty good,” Bluder said. “When we get later in the season, we may need a lot of people.”

ODD BALL: Clark asked for a change of basketball in the first half, thinking there wasn’t enough air in the first one. The officials changed out the ball.

Asked about how odd the play was after the game, Bluder said, laughing, “You’re asking about Caitlin. A lot of things are odd.”