Iowa women’s basketball assistant coach LaSondra Barrett has been wanting to branch out the Hawkeyes’ recruiting to the international space, she told the Des Moines Register in late January.
Barrett and the Hawkeyes have now successfully made inroads into Sweden. A source with direct knowledge of the decision confirmed Iowa has earned the commitment of forward Ella Stromdahl to the Register.
Stromdahl, who will turn 19 in August, is 6 feet tall and a native of Uppsala, Sweden. She will be a freshman collegiately.
Stromdahl’s limited available film shows an agile and fluid player with a nice wingspan who can score with the right or left hand, and she can shoot the ball from 3-point range. She’ll become the second player in Iowa’s freshman class, joining highly acclaimed Californian McKenna Woliczko.
Stromdahl has played on Sweden’s under-16 and under-18 national teams. Last season, she played on the RIG Lulea Swedish academy team and averaged 6.5 points and 2.9 rebounds per game.
Stromdahl visited Iowa on May 12. She is the fifth offseason pickup for the Hawkeyes this cycle, joining Georgia guards Dani Carnegie and Jocelyn Faison, Oklahoma State wing Amari Whiting and Knox College point guard Bria Medina out of the transfer portal. Stromdahl becomes the 11th known player on the 2026-27 Iowa roster overall. She and Medina were on their Iowa visit at the same time and both committed to the Hawkeyes.
Iowa head coach Jan Jensen told the Register on May 11 that she is transitioning back to a “four-out” offense that relies on four perimeter players to stretch and space the floor. Stromdahl appears to be an inside-outside type of forward that would fit nicely into that system. Jensen also said that she would be content with an 11-player roster for 2026-27 during her stop at the Carroll Area I-Club, so it appears the Hawkeyes’ portal and recruiting activity is done for the coming season.
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: Iowa women’s basketball taps into Sweden for latest commitment
Reporting by Chad Leistikow, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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