Hawkeyes handle business, roll past Toledo

With an in-state rivalry matchup against Drake looming on the horizon, the Iowa women’s basketball team welcomed three-time reigning MAC champion Toledo to Iowa City on Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes dominated the Rockets from start to finish and rolled to an impressive 94-57 victory without much struggle.

“These games, they’re just a little different to prepare for, especially when you’re coming off of a very intense game like Virginia Tech…This one, you’re just kind of wondering how they are going to come out,” said head coach Jan Jensen. “I was really happy with how they came out with that intensity, and I thought they had a really nice focus in that first quarter.”

Toledo jumped out to an early 8-5 lead, but the Hawkeyes quickly found their footing. Hannah Stuelke put Iowa in front with a basket inside, while a transition three-pointer from Taylor McCabe extended made it 14-8. Late in the quarter, Addi O’Grady teamed up with Lucy Olsen, dropping a couple of dimes to her point guard for baskets to push the Iowa lead to 28-10 after the opening ten minutes. O’Grady showcased her passing ability, finishing with three assists on the night.

“What’s really nice is we can run our offense from the block, and sometimes we’ll bring her up high and she’s always been a nice passer, even in the recruiting process,” said Jensen. “We need to get her more opportunities for her to showcase that, so I think that is a really nice benefit because she does do a good job with the passing decisions.”

Oooo. Ahhh. 🤩@addiogrady22 x @LucyOlsenbball #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/zUlFe3FLgM

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) November 14, 2024

Defensively, the Hawkeyes were locked in. Toledo was forced to endure a five and a half minute scoring drought in the first quarter, as well as a three and a half minute drought in the second quarter. The Rockets shot 31.3% (21/67) from the floor and just 24.2% (8/33) from three-point range. Defense turned into offense, with Iowa turning 16 Toledo turnovers into 20 points.

“Coach Sean (Sullivan) and Coach (Raina) impacted our defense so much this year, and we’ve really started to emphasize that more,” said Taylor McCabe. “We know that we have plenty of offensive threats, but in order to compete at the level we want to compete at, we’re going to have to be able to guard people.”

With the defensive end of the floor on lockdown mode, the offense was able to get rolling, which led to the lopsided numbers on the scoreboard. With Syd Affolter back in the starting lineup, Taylor McCabe came off the bench, but was no drop in production. She knocked down four three-pointers and finished the night with 14 points.

“I was definitely expecting this going forward just because of how big a role Syd has had in the past, so there was never going to be any question that this was going to be my primary role,” said McCabe. “I’m going to stay hot, I’m going to stay locked in…Just have to stay prepared and know that when I get those chances, I’m going to knock them down and I know I can do that better than anyone else.”

Hannah Stuelke continues to look like a different player this season. She finished with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds. The number that jumped off the stat page? Stuelke made all nine of her free throw attempts.

“Nobody wants to miss free throws, but I’ve been working on it for such a long time and now that it’s finally coming together, I think it’s really awesome.”

“I feel amazing. I feel so much better than I did last year, my knee bugged me a lot, so being able to play freely and not worry about anything with my body has been really nice.”

With the win, the Hawkeyes are off to a 3-0 start for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. Despite that, they did not appear in Monday’s latest AP Poll. It’s something that will serve as motivation for the team going forward.

“When the rankings came out, Lucy texted me right away, and we were like, yeah that’s not going to cut it,” said Stuelke. “I think it gave us a little fuel to our fire.”

“Let them sleep on us,” said McCabe. “The rankings only matter at the end of the year anyway.”

On the night, Iowa was 31 of 54 (57.4%) from the floor and 4 of 14 (28.6%) from three-point range. Lucy Olsen finished with 14 points and four assists, while Syd Affolter added 11 points, five rebounds and four assists in her first start of the season. Addi O’Grady also reached double figures with ten points, three rebounds and three assists.

Up Next: The Hawkeyes will travel to the Knapp Center in Des Moines for an in-state rivalry matchup against the Drake Bulldogs. Tipoff on Sunday is set for 2:00pm CT on ESPN+.