Recap: First look at Iowa women’s hoops in 110-55 exhibition win over Missouri Western
By Dallas Jones
IOWA CITY, IOWA – After a historic year for Iowa women’s hoops last season, the entire state of Iowa and many across the country were awaiting the return of Hawkeye basketball.
For those who don’t know, here are a few of those records set by the Hawkeyes last season. Iowa was the first program in the Big Ten conference to compete in back-to-back National Championships. Iowa tied Purdue (1998-99) and Maryland (2014-15) for most wins in B1G history in 2023-24 (34).
Iowa has been ranked in the national attendance top 10 each of the past five seasons with fans (2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019). The Hawkeyes won 15+ games inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena in four out of the last six seasons, which is the best six-year stretch in program history. Iowa won four of the last six Big Ten Tournament titles (2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024).
Tonight, we got our first glance of the post-Caitlin Clark Hawks. With key returners such as Taylor McCabe, Hannah Stulke and Kylie Feuerbach look to keep the momentum from the last season, there are some new Hawkeyes looking to create their own legacy.
A couple of them include Freshman Center Ava Heiden and guard Teagen Mallegni, but a lot of the attention will be on Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen, who is anticipated to be the conductor of the Hawkeye offense this season.
1st half: Within the first five minutes Jan Jensen made three substitutions and all three were freshman. Ava Heiden, Taylor Stremlow and Teagan Mallegni. All three made an impact as Heiden look very comfortable patrolling the paint on both offense and defense, getting a couple easy layups, one thanks to a pass from Stremlow.
Mallegni showed no fear as shot took three shots from behind the arc in the quarter, knocking two down. At 6’1″ Mallegni is tall for a guard and is clearly ready to make a difference right away.
From the start is it clear that Taylor McCabe and Lucy Olsen will be the main ball handlers and initiators on offense. Olsen and McCabe both rarely left the court and seem to have great chemistry already. The duo played 17 of the 20 total minutes in the first half.
They helped the Hawkeye offense put up 33 points in the first quarter alone. Seven different Hawkeyes contributed as they held a 19 point lead at the end of the quarter.
At the 3:40 mark in the first quarter, Iowa led 20-14. By the 5:30 mark in the second quarter, Iowa led 49-17. By that point, Iowa played eleven different Hawkeyes, four of them freshman. They kept their high scoring pace up the rest of the half, finishing with 57 at the break. One stat to notice, the Hawkeyes shot 20 threes in the first half and knocked down nine.
2nd half: The Hawkeyes came out of the half with a clear focus on attacking the basket. In the first five minutes of the third, they had attempted three times as many free throws as threes. Now the big lead may have also affected their point of emphasis, but after so many three point attempts in the first, it was important to show a balanced offensive attack.
All eleven Hawkeyes that played in the first half saw minutes in the third as well. They outscored Missouri Western 27-16 in the quarter and made five of their last six shots.
By the time the starters were sat for the game, the Hawkeyes had held Missouri Western to 6-20 from the floor in the second half and an even worse 3-14 from deep. While this may not be the normal rotation going forward, it is a positive sign that the Hawkeyes were able to keep their foot on the gas throughout the various lineup changes.
All eleven Hawkeyes that played scored, they knocked down 21-26 (80.8%) of their free throws and held their opponent to under 28% from the field for the entire game. About as perfect as an exhibition performance Jan Jensen could have asked for.
Here from Head Coach Jan Jensen, Lucy Olsen and Teagan Mallegni postgame here: