Hawkeyes grind out a win over Virginia Tech in Charlotte
The Jan Jensen Era of Iowa Women’s Basketball is off to an impressive start. While it wasn’t the conventional high-flying night on the offensive end of the floor, the Hawkeyes were able to grind out a 71-52 win over Virginia Tech at the Ally Tipoff in Charlotte. Iowa is now 2-0 for the 12th consecutive season.
“It feels like an NCAA Tournament. They treat it like the NCAA Tournament,” Jan Jensen said about the Ally Tipoff event. “I’ll come back every time they ask us.”
What was a closely contested, two-point lead for Iowa early in the second half ballooned to a 16-point advantage by the time the horn sounded at the end of the third quarter. The Hawkeyes had stretches where they shared and shot the ball well, but they hung their hat on the defensive end all night.
“We really wanted to limit (Matilda) Ekh,” said Jensen. “We knew we couldn’t let Ekh get on a roll; That was first and foremost.”
They did not let her get rolling. The leading returner scorer for the Hokies averaged 10.4 points per game and led the ACC in three-point percentage last season. She finished with just two points on 1/6 shooting and missed all four of her three-point attempts.
Although the final score indicates that it was an easy night for the Hawkeyes, Virginia Tech, led by first-year head coach Megan Duffy, had stretches where they made things difficult for Iowa. Lucy Olsen was aggressive right out of the gate with seven early points, while Hannah Stuelke led all scorers with ten points to give the Hawkeyes a 26-16 lead after the first quarter. The fast-paced play came to a screeching halt in the second quarter.
Both sides struggled shooting the ball, combining for just 22 points on 9/28 (32.1%) shooting. A pair of three-pointers from Carys Baker and a basket from Samyha Suffren cut the Iowa lead to just 34-30 going into the break.
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In the second half, the Hawkeyes continued lock down on the defensive end and leaned on the hot hand of Addi O’Grady in the paint. Although Iowa knocked down just four three-pointers on the night, Kylie Feuerbach hit one from long range to make it 41-36 midway through the third quarter. Meanwhile, O’Grady was dominant in the paint, converting all seven shots she took in the second half, finishing with 18 points on 9/9 shooting.
A short 7-0 run from the Hokies forced a Jan Jensen to call a timeout early in the fourth quarter, but the lead was never in danger, as Iowa closed out the 71-52 win. It’s just the fifth time in the last five seasons that the Hawkeyes have held a Power 4 opponent to 52 points or less.
On the night, Iowa shot 46.0% (29/63) from the floor, but just 22.2% (4/18) from three-point range. Lucy Olsen led the team in scoring, with 20 points, six rebounds and four assists. Hannah Stuelke added 16 points and seven rebounds, while Kylie Feuerbach totaled seven points, four rebounds and five assists.
Jan Jensen’s squad was dominant on the glass, holding a 46-29 rebounding advantage. They pulled down 32 of 40 (80.0%) rebounds on the defensive end and 14 of 35 (40.0%) on the offensive end. Five players totaled at least five rebounds.
Up Next: The Hawkeyes will return to Iowa City on Wednesday for a matchup against the Toledo Rockets. Tipoff is set for 6:00pm CT on the Big Ten Network.
