IOWA CITY — On a night that saw Taylor Stremlow deliver a career-high 11 assists, one of the Iowa women’s basketball sophomore’s final passes against Illinois drew the biggest groan.
With the Hawkeyes up two late, Stremlow passed the basketball back to much-maligned free-throw shooter Hannah Stuelke — who had been the inbounds passer. The ball was never designed to go to Stuelke in that situation, but Illinois alertly fouled her with 14 seconds to go.
“I passed it to her on purpose,” Stremlow grinned afterward, “because I knew she was making both.”
Indeed, Stuelke calmly knocked down both free throws and later tacked on one more for the final point to secure the ninth-ranked Hawkeyes’ harrowing 82-78 win over the young and talented Illini on Feb. 26.
“I’m thrilled for Hannah, (she’s) like a daughter for me,” Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said, “because she works on them.”
Free throws are a funny thing. On the outside, it’s easy to wonder why a player can’t make an unguarded shot that she’s shot tens of thousands of times.
But free throws can be like a 3-foot putt in golf. Miss one, then the next one feels like it’s about 5 feet. Especially as the pressure of games mounts. Stuelke’s been fighting those mental battles throughout her Iowa career — 46% as a freshman, 63% as a sophomore, 67.5% as a junior … then a regression as a senior. In Iowa’s first 20 games this season, she was only hitting 54% from the line.
But she kept working to improve. In her last eight games, Stuelke is 23 of 33 (70%) on free throws. Major, needed progress. And it showed up against the upset-minded Illini.
“She’s been in the gym consistently,” Stremlow said, as teammate Ava Heiden nodded in agreement, “working not only on her shot but also mentally going through free throws and putting herself in those tough situations. It’s just a testament to the work she’s put in and how much she cares about this program and this team.”
What a final minute it was for Stuelke, who was playing her final regular-season game in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
After Chit-Chat Wright’s free throws inched Iowa into a 75-73 lead with 1:00 left, Illinois drew up a set, but Stuelke alertly dropped off her coverage of Cerah Parchment and intercepted Aaliyah Guyton’s pass intended for Berry Wallace.
After an Iowa timeout, Stuelke got the ball with 11 seconds on the shot clock near the left elbow, took one dribble to her right, then dropped a gorgeous bounce pass to Heiden on a pick-and-roll for an easy left-handed layin and a 77-73 Iowa lead with 23.6 seconds left.
One possession later, the two Stuelke free throws put Iowa in front, 79-75, and sent a relieved joy into the 51st straight sellout of 14,998 fans at Carver-Hawkeye.
Considering how this game started, the senior had to be especially grateful to finish the game … let alone how she finished. Stuelke had her right elbow seemingly hyper-extended while diving for a loose ball just 88 seconds into the game. Stuelke was in the locker room and out for 5:26, but came back with a compression sleeve on her arm.
Stuelke finished with 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals.
Jensen said Stuelke was sore after the game but added, “I don’t foresee anything that’s season-altering.”
Like the game result, that news was a sigh of relief for the Hawkeyes.
Why did Ava Heiden play only 23 minutes?
Stremlow marveled at Heiden’s stat line, exaggerating the numbers slightly: “Dang, you had 30 in 20 minutes.”
Heiden grinned.
“I tried to be efficient, so I could get rest,” she said.
Heiden was still feeling the effects of an illness that she played through during Iowa’s 62-44 win over then-No. 5 Michigan four days earlier. Jensen noticed that Heiden was laboring getting up and down the court and encouraged her to give Iowa what she could during her time on the court.
Heiden’s result: A career-high 28 points on 13-of-18 shooting, fresh off being named national player of the week by almost every major outlet, in just 23:27 of action.
“She looked a little winded tonight,” Jensen said. “She played not really the healthiest on Sunday, and all of a sudden, you’re already here again.
“I said, ‘We’re going to give you rest and blows whenever we can.’”
Jensen wisely rotated Heiden in for offense, out for defense as the teams exhausted their timeouts in the final minute. Stuelke and freshman Journey Houston played terrific defense inside and outside as Iowa needed big-time stops down the stretch.
Houston was great. She gave Iowa nine points and eight rebounds in 19:05 of playing time. After Illinois moved to a 64-58 lead with 7:53 left, Jensen stuck with Houston — who responded with a pair of clutch jumpers. One cut the gap to 64-62. The next, with 3:00 to go, from 18 feet pushed Iowa in front, 70-69.
Jensen said the coaching staff had to convince Houston to be a backup “4” at an undersized 5-foot-11. But she’s embraced the role and continues to impress.
“Her mentality, she’s just a competitor. She brings a steadiness, she brings a calm, a confidence, the ability to hit those elbow shots,” Jensen said. “I’m so confident in her with that.
“I thought she was a key to this win. And I’m really, really proud of her.”
So, yeah, Houston is one of those reasons that Heiden could play a little less on the court … while being insanely effective on it.
Taylor Stremlow’s stat line overcomes sizzling Illini
Illinois’ Parchment hit a 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer to tie the score at 35-35.
Then, after the break, Illinois went 8-for-8 from 3. Yes, the Illini made their last nine 3-point attempts for the night in a scorching performance.
They never cooled off. Yet the Hawkeyes still found a way to win.
“Credit to them, they were hitting lots of tough, contested shots,” Stremlow said. “We talked about focusing on what we could control.”
Iowa’s path to victory was visible in Stremlow’s elite ball-handling, with Wright again struggling for offense. After halftime, Stremlow hit two clutch buckets for four points but, more importantly, had eight assists and zero turnovers. For the game, she finished with her first career double-double: 11 points, 11 assists on 5-of-7 shooting in 34:15. Iowa committed only one second-half turnover.
“She just has a swag and a confidence,” Jensen said. “And I thought her floor game was just stellar tonight. Offensively, she was finding the right people at the right times, and she wasn’t forcing, taking too many gambles, especially in the second half, when it was so tight.”
Since Jensen reinserted Stremlow to the starting lineup, Iowa is 5-0. The Hawkeyes have never lost when Stremlow starts (14-0, including 12-0 this season). She looks better every game.
What did Aaliyah Guyton think of her Iowa return?
Aaliyah Guyton’s eyes welled with tears as she began a postgame interview at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, her former home, after the Illini loss.
Guyton, a 5-foot-7 sophomore, transferred from Iowa to Illinois after one season. She has seen her role increase for the Illini as the season has progressed. She made her ninth start of the season Thursday and finished with 11 points. Her 3-point play midway through the third quarter pushed Illinois to a 50-45 lead, but she didn’t score again.
Iowa assigned the 5-4 Wright to guard Guyton, who is averaging 6.6 points and 20.0 minutes this season for Illinois.
A year ago for Iowa, Guyton averaged 4.7 points and 16.3 minutes while making one start (interestingly, at Illinois). Guyton received a modest cheer when introduced as a starter from the Carver crowd, a starkly different reception than the vitriol that met Nebraska men’s player Pryce Sandfort during his return to Iowa City on Feb. 17.
“It was good to see them,” Guyton said of her former Iowa teammates.
As for the atmosphere?
“It was live. It was intense. I tend to block out crowds a lot, so sometimes I can’t really hear it when I’m on the floor,” Guyton said. “But … it was pretty live, per usual, from the times I was here. It’s a really good environment.”
The Guyton story wasn’t a major factor on this night, although Guyton’s late turnover was a biggie. But the Hawkeyes likely haven’t seen her for the last time … maybe even this year. There’s a reasonable scenario in which Illinois (19-9 overall, 9-8 Big Ten) and Iowa (23-5, 14-3) face off in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals March 6 in Indianapolis.
Suddenly, this Iowa team on the verge of notable history
With the win, Iowa has matched the regular-season win total (23) of two iconic Hawkeye teams.
The 2018-19 team, led by national player of the year Megan Gustafson, that went to the Elite Eight, went 23-6.
The 2022-23 team, in Caitlin Clark’s junior year, also went 23-6 before storming to the first of two Final Fours.
If Iowa can win its regular-season finale March 1 at Wisconsin (2 p.m., BTN Plus), it would record only the second 24-win regular season of the 26-year Lisa Bluder/Jensen era. The only team that had more wins was Clark’s senior-year team in 2023-24, which posted a 26-4 regular season before reaching a second straight national title game and ending with a 34-5 record.
That’s not to say this team is on those Hawkeye squads’ level, but it goes to show that this team has been ultra-resilient time and time again. This Illinois win was a perfect example of that.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Game on the line, Hannah Stuelke delivers for Iowa women | Leistikow
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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