Iowa Women's Basketball blows past Fairleigh Dickinson for a season opening victory
Tonight, it was officially time to turn the page. The Iowa Women’s Basketball took the fanbase on a ride last season, as they made it to the program’s second ever Final Four. However, it’s time for a new season in Iowa City. A chance to make another Final Four run. The third-ranked Hawkeyes took the floor for their season opener against Fairleigh Dickinson and handled business with a 102-46 blowout victory.
“I think we were ready to go tonight,” said head coach Lisa Bluder. “We were tired of beating up on each other, beating up on our gray squad and our team just wanted an opportunity to get out and face somebody else tonight. I thought we played extremely well in a number of areas.”
It didn’t take much time for the Hawkeyes to show why they are ranked in the top five to begin the season and Caitlin Clark wasted no time to get into double figures in the scoring column. She opened the game with a turnaround jumper in the lane and capped Iowa’s 12-2 run to start the game with a three-pointer. Clark scored 17 points in the opening quarter, but it was the final play of the opening 15 minutes that the Carver crowd on its feet.
In the closing seconds, Sydney Affolter batted down a pass from FDU guard Bella Toomey and then dove on the floor to tip it ahead of Molly Davis who chased it all the way to the other end of the floor. Davis tracked it down and threw up a flailing layup with just enough spin for it to fall into the hoop. The Hawkeyes took a 35-17 lead into the second quarter.
“Wasn’t that great hustle? You love that when your team is up and you’re playing on your home floor and they dive on the floor,” said Bluder. “Syd just laid out to get that ball and Molly what a shot at the end of the quarter. That was fun, I loved how much the fans appreciated the hustle.”
The Hawkeyes continued to roll in the second quarter, holding the Knights to just 2/12 shooting, while they shot 10/20 from the floor themselves. They outscored FDU 25-7 in the quarter, including a 23-2 run. A three-pointer late in the half from Sydney Affolter put Iowa up 60-24 going into the locker room.
In the third quarter, it was the Sharon Goodman show. The redshirt junior out of Lime Springs, Iowa got her first start since she was a senior at Crestwood High School in February of 2020. She delivered 13 points on 5/5 shooting from the floor out of halftime and finished the game with a career-high 19 points on 7/8 shooting.
“She’s been playing well, she’s been producing in practice, playing great and you see tonight that she played really well,” said Lisa Bluder. “She’s been sealing big, she’s been asking for the ball, been scoring at a good rate. A lot of good things Sharon’s been bringing to our team.”
“Coach Jan says, you know your money shots, so just having confidence with that and knowing that we don’t have to fill Monika’s role exactly like she was, but that we have our own strengths,” said Goodman. “I can see the confidence building over the last couple of weeks.”
The game itself was out of reach after the opening quarter. Iowa led by nearly 40 at the break and only added on in the second half. The Hawkeyes rolled to a 102-46 victory, which isn’t necessarily surprising given that FDU is breaking in five new starters and a new head coach, but Lisa Bluder’s squad looked to be in midseason form from the opening tip. Iowa assisted on 70% of their made baskets and finished with 28 assists to just seven turnovers. Caitlin Clark finished with ten, while Molly Davis added four. Seven players had at least two assists on the night. The type of basket that Lisa Bluder loves to see.
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“That’s the way we like to play. Great ball movement, hard cuts and getting people open,” said Bluder. “Those high assists, that’s so much fun. It’s what we try to do.”
Caitlin Clark led all scorers with 28 points, while she added seven rebounds and ten assists. She mentioned that the teams assist-to-turnover ratio will be important going forward.
“That’s what we kind of pride ourselves on, is a lot of assists and low turnover numbers. Seven (turnovers) is really good, especially early in the year, sometimes those numbers can be a little high,” said Caitlin Clark. “The competition level is going to increase, so that’s going to be really important..hopefully that number continues to stay like that.”
As for the other new starter in the lineup on opening night, Hannah Stuelke showed why she is expected to have a breakout sophomore season. She finished with 22 points on 9/10 shooting, including 3/3 from the free throw line. Stuelke also added nine rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“You work so hard to get better and I’m always in the gym, especially with Tania (Davis). She’s been helping me a lot,” said Stuelke. “It feels great to be actually be able to do it in a game. A huge confidence boost.”
Offensively, the Hawkeyes shot 40/73 (54.8%) from the floor, although the three-point shooting was at just 21.8%. Iowa outscored FDU 66-16 and outrebounded them 46-35. Rounding the top contributors, Sydney Affolter finished with 11 points, six rebounds, while Addi O’Grady had nine points and Kate Martin added eight points.
Up Next, the Hawkeyes travel to Charlotte for big time showdown against #8 Virginia Tech on Thursday. The Hokies defeated High Point 94-55 in their season opener. The matchup between Iowa and VT will tipoff at 7:00pm CT on ESPN2.
