By Dallas Jones

The second round of the Big Ten Tournament presented an opportunity for revenge as Lucy Olsen and the Iowa women’s basketball team matched up with sixth seed Michigan State.

The Hawkeyes lost to the Spartans in East Lansing 68-66 way back in December, as Olsen had a shot to tie late that barely missed.

This is a very different Hawkeye team from then, but Michigan State earned its seed and Iowa came into the game knowing that its best effort would be needed to stay in the tournament.

First Quarter: After a blazing start against Wisconsin the night before, the Hawkeyes began Thursday’s game in Indianapolis just 2-of-10 from the field and 1-of-6 from three. On the other side, the Spartans missed their first four attempts before making four of the next five, giving them an early 9-5 lead at the first break.

The only Hawkeye who did not struggle to get going was Lucy Olsen as the Villanova transfer showed why she was recruited from the transfer portal. Olsen was 3-of-5 from the field in the first quarter with nine points and an assist. Every other Hawkeye was a combined 1-of-11 with five turnovers.

And yet Iowa still only trailed by four points after the first quarter.

Second Quarter: Just a few minutes into the second quarter, the Hawkeyes went on a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the game at 18-16 on a pair of free throws by junior forward Hannah Stuelke.

Lucy Olsen then followed with a jumper to stretch the run to 8-0 and the lead to four.

The Hawkeyes continued what might be their most dominant run of the season in the second quarter, scoring 16 straight points in a 6:23 span.

Stuelke scored half of the points on the run for the Hawks at the rim. Michigan State did not score its first basket until the 3:17 mark of the quarter.

The Spartans would string together a couple baskets after that to bring the game back to single digits before the break.

Third Quarter: As great as the second quarter was for the Hawkeyes, the third quarter was quite the opposite. The Spartans started the third outscoring Iowa 21-9, including a 9-1 run over a two minute stretch, turning a seven point deficit into a five point lead.

At the three minute mark in the quarter, Michigan State had three players in double digits. They were Grace Van Slooten (10), Julia Ayrault (15) and Ines Sotelo (11).

A huge factor in losing the lead for Iowa was foul trouble. Both Lucy Olsen and Hannah Stuelke were pulled early after picking up their third personals, but Coach Jensen had no choice but to keep their leaders in.

The spark in the third quarter came from the Freshman big Ava Heiden. Heiden had six points in the third quarter, the two biggest came on a layup to retake the lead 49-48, followed by an and-one layup on the next possession. After surrendering the seven point lead they had built, they turned it around to take a six point lead into the final quarter.

Fourth Quarter: The Ava Heiden legacy half continued into the fourth as she knocked down both of her attempts to tie her career high of ten points. Her tenth point gave Iowa a 59-53 lead.

Mouse in the house! pic.twitter.com/QKilQWxxkV

— Dallas Jones (@DallasJonesy) March 7, 2025

Both teams traded baskets as Lucy Olsen led all players in both points (19) and assists (7) at the 4:13 mark, Iowa leading Michigan State 64-57. Hannah Stuelke reminded everyone she has been in this situation a time or two, grabbing multiple rebounds both offensive and defensive down the stretch as the Hawkeyes went on a 7-0 run over two minutes late in the game.

A corner three from Kylie Feuerbach would give Iowa a 73-61 lead and put the game away. Iowa has won 11 straight games in the the Big Ten Tournament, tying the longest winning streak in tournament history.

“I’m so grateful for this group, they’ve shown up everyday.” said Jan Jensen postgame, “We had that adversity at the beginning of the Big Ten season…….I am just so thankful, I love this group.”

The Iowa Hawkeyes next game is tomorrow night against the No. 3 seed Ohio State Buckeyes at 9 p.m. EST.