The Hannah Stuelke Game: Hawkeyes down PSU at Carver

Hannah Stuelke grew up 30 minutes from Iowa City and made the mere 29 mile trip down I-380 from Cedar Rapids many times to watch the Iowa women’s basketball team at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Playing for the Hawkeyes was a dream of hers and tonight, she put her name into the record book along with players she used to watch as a kid.

“It’s really cool. I remember watching Megan and seeing her score so many points and now I’m the one that the little girls look up to,” said Stuelke. “I think that’s just amazing.”

47 points. That’s what Hannah Stuelke put up on Thursday night against the Lady Lions. No one, men’s or women’s, Iowa or opponent has ever scored that many points inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. That helped propel the Hawkeyes to a 111-93 victory over Penn State.

“My confidence is going to come up a lot. I know that I can be more aggressive offensively, so that’s exciting,” said Stuelke. “My free throws aren’t where I want them to be, but I can keep working on that every day.”

Coming into the game, the expectation was points and lot of them. That’s what the fans in attendance got, but it was a struggle early on. Penn State started 1/8 from behind the arc, while Caitlin Clark turned the ball over five times in the first quarter. Hannah Stuelke kept the ship going in the right direction with ten points, but a couple of threes from Shay Ciezki late in the quarter put PSU on top 25-23 going into the second.

The Hawkeyes got things rolling in the second quarter to take the lead back. Caitlin Clark hit a pair of threes, while a basket inside from AJ Ediger capped off a 14-3 run to make it 37-30 Iowa.

Lady Lions sharpshooter Shay Ciezki left the game midway through the second quarter with an ankle injury and didn’t return, but they got some threes from unexpected sources throughout the opening half. Penn State hit nine first half threes, but only three came from the Marisa/Ciezki combo.

“They had people step up and make threes that don’t make threes,” said Lisa Bluder. “(Defensively), you go by statistics, right? Try to play the statistics a little bit and it didn’t pan out in the first half. It did for the rest of the game.”

After PSU cut the lead to 39-38, the Hawkeyes went on another run. This time, a 12-3 run was capped off by a Kate Martin transition three-pointer. Iowa went in to the half with a 55-44 lead. Caitlin Clark put up 21 points, but nine turnovers overshadowed her scoring.

“She wasn’t shooting the ball as well as she’s capable of shooting and, so she went to do some other things,” said Bluder. “She got to the free throw line, got her assists and got other people involed, which you love to see.”

In the second half, it was all about Hannah Stuelke. She scored 15 points in the first half and wasted no time reaching a new career-high, as she scored the first nine points of the half for the Hawkeyes. That extended the Iowa lead to 64-47. For a while, it seemed like Stuelke was touching the ball in the post on every possession.

“It was a lot of fun. My teammates did a great job of getting me the ball,” said Stuelke. “I had some mismatches in there, so it was fun.”

The third quarter ended with some fireworks, as Caitlin Clark found Syd Affolter in the corner for a three-pointer that took several bounces on the rim before falling through at the buzzer. The Hawkeyes went into the fourth quarter leading 79-63.

The fourth quarter seemed to drag on for ages, as 20 fouls were called in the final ten minutes and 38 free throws were attempted. Penn State whittled the lead down to 91-81 at one point, but the Hawkeyes stayed the course and never let the lead slip into single digits.

“It was kind of getting a little bit frustrating, but we just kept talking about staying in the moment. Control what you can control, staying in the moment and not worrying about the officiating,” said Bluder.

Down the stretch, the Hawkeyes were looking to get the ball to Hannah Stuelke every chance they got. She scored seven points in the span of two minutes to put herself on the brink of 40 points, while a free throw with 6:11 to play got her there. Then, with under a minute to play, she got a feed from Caitlin and converted a basket, plus the foul to set the Carver-Hawkeye scoring record that was previously held by Daren Queenen of Lehigh. When Hannah checked out of the game, Caitlin had a couple of words for her.

“She said, “I expect you to do this very game,” said Stuelke. “She has as much confidence in me as anyone and she always wants me to be at my best. We just have that love (for each other).”

Dub Mood. #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/JRpwZ7FMsi

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) February 9, 2024

Hannah finished the game with the record 47 points on 17/20 shooting from the floor, as well as nine rebounds. Caitlin Clark finished the night with 27 points, five rebounds and tied the Carver women’s record with 15 assists. Kate Martin put up a double-double 16 points and 16 rebounds, while Syd Affolter contributed defense, along with nine points and ten rebounds.

“I’m so pleased with all of them. Caitlin had some amazing assists, but we just have people stepping up,” said Bluder. “It’s really good to see us be able to have contributions from other people, other than Caitlin.”

Molly Davis played just 3:45 on the night. Lisa Bluder said in the postgame press conference that she was battling an illness and did not practice on Wednesday.

Up Next, the Hawkeyes will travel to Lincoln for a rivalry matchup against Nebraska on Super Bowl Sunday. Tipoff is set for 12:00pm CT and will televised on FOX.