Iowa Women’s Basketball: Hawks’ Bench Beats Rutgers 61-57

The 5th-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes improved to 20-5 (12-2 B1G) on the season by dismantling Rutgers 111 to 57 at Carver Hawkeye Arena on Sunday. The Hawkeyes got out to a fast start and Coach Lisa Bluder was able to empty her bench in the easy victory. Caitlin Clark filled the stat sheet in what amounted to just a half of basketball. Clark finished with 15 points, 4 rebounds, and 10 assists in 20 minutes of play.

The name of the game was to give the starters some much-needed rest, and provide the backups quality game minutes. For the non-starters Molly Davis played her best game as a Hawkeye. Davis finished with 17 points.

Hannah Stuelke had 10 points and 5 rebounds in just 12 minutes of court time. I love how Stuelke runs the court. Here she sprints to get position and Caitlin Clark finds her.

Hawkeye fans were shown a glimmer of what the future holds; Taylor McCabe had 12 points (4-7 3FG) in 17 minutes. She could very well go on to set 3 point shooting records for the Hawks before her career is done.

Monika Czinano had 14 points and 5 rebounds. Czinano will be moving on after this year, and it’s important for the Hawkeyes to get backup post minutes whenever possible. Addison O’ Grady had 6 points and 3 rebounds in nine minutes. Sharon Goodman played four minutes. O’Grady’s minutes have been down a little bit from what was expected, but Coach Bluder has done an excellent job of getting Hannah Stuelke up to speed at the college level. O’Grady will be a good player for the Hawkeyes next year. Barring the Hawks getting a post in the transfer portal, Iowa will be rolling with Stuelke, O’ Grady, and Goodman at the five next year. I am at a point now where I trust Jan Jensen to coach up our posts so they will be playing at a very high level. Also, the Hawkeyes have to be a very appealing destination for a transfer big. Who wouldn’t want to play with Caitlin Clark and follow in the footsteps of Megan Gustafson and Monika Czinano? The Hawks run a very post-friendly offense.

Stats and Info.

The Hawkeyes scored 97 points... in three quarters. The Hawks ended with 111. This output was the most points the Hawkeyes have scored against a Big Ten opponent. The 60 points in the first half also set a record against a Big Ten foe.

The Hawkeyes shot a blistering 54.5% (12-22) from beyond the three point line.

The Hawkeyes won the rebounding battle 44-20.

Iowa limited Rutgers to just 3-17 (17.6%) shooting on three point shots.

Next Up:

Iowa’s next two opponents are the Wisconsin Badgers (8-18 / 3-11) and the Nebraska Cornhuskers (14-11/6-8). Both are games the Hawkeyes should win, but there are few teams that are good enough to just show up to get a win. The Hawkeyes are not one of them.

Wednesday, February 15th (home) - Wisconsin. 6:30pm. BTN+

Saturday, February 18th (away) - Nebraska. 1pm. BTN

After this week, the Hawkeyes have just two regular-season games remaining. After that the Big Ten Championship starts March 1st. It’s great to be a Hawkeye!