By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa women’s basketball team made sure that Senior Day truly was a happy occasion by first defeating Wisconsin 81-66 on Sunday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The score was even at 36 heading to the third quarter, and that’s when Iowa started to assert itself, outscoring the Badgers 26-17 in the 10-minute quarter to take a 62-53 lead after three quarters.

Iowa’s largest lead in the game would prove to be the final margin of victory at 15 points.

Senior guard Lucy Olsen, who transferred from Villanova prior to this season, led Iowa with 22 points, despite not scoring in the second quarter, while junior forward Hannah Stuelke finished with 21 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Senior center Addi O-Grady contributed 10 points off the bench on 5-of-5 shooting from the field, while senior starters Kylie Feuerbach and Syd Affolter finished with 10 and eight points, respectively.

Iowa, which lost five straight games in January, finished the regular season 20-9 overall and 10-8 in conference play under first-year head coach Jan Jensen, while Wisconsin fell to 13-16 and 4-14.

It marks the ninth straight season that Iowa has won at least 20 games.

“I’m just so proud because where we were about five weeks ago, I don’t think a lot of people maybe put a lot of money on us to get to a 20-win season and to be coming into the conference tournament as, if your analysts are right, then we’re one of the hotter teams,” Jensen said on the Peacock post-game interview. “So, I’m grateful, and I’m thankful that I’ve gotten this opportunity. I’m so thankful for this bunch that I get to coach.”

Iowa will be seeded 11th in the Big Ten Tournament and will face Wisconsin again on Wednesday in a first-round game in Indianapolis.

“Momentum is on our side,” Olsen said after Sunday’s win.

The Badgers didn’t go down easily on Sunday as they led 21-20 after the first quarter and still were within single digits early in the fourth quarter.

Iowa’s five seniors, which in addition to Olsen, O’Grady, Affolter and Feuerbach, also include reserve center A.J. Ediger, were honored after Sunday’s win.

Ediger played briefly late in the game and received a loud ovation from the sellout crowd, as did all the seniors when they were substituted for late in the fourth quarter.