Fresh off their first loss of the season against the now-No. 19 Tennessee Lady Vols, the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes had to fight tooth and nail to defeat their state rival No. 18 Iowa State, 75-67, in the annual Cy-Hawk Series. It is their eighth win out of the last nine matchups.
Before a loud, sell-out crowd at Carver Hawkeye Arena, the Hawkeyes didn’t come storming out of the gates, but found their footing at the right time.
In the beginning, it was a tug-of-war battle with the Cyclones, who were led by sophomore center Audi Crooks, having the advantage most of the way. The Hawkeyes struggled to generate points, particularly from the 3-point line as they went 0-for-8 through the first quarter. They had to rely on the midrange excellence of senior guard Lucy Olsen as she carried the offense through the first half, including scoring Iowa’s first eight points.
To compensate, the Hawkeye defense forced the Cyclones into turnovers and offense fouls to retake control of the game. If that wasn’t enough, they had to also contend with the referees, who seemingly found a way to slow down the pace of the game with repeated foul calls. There were 17 fouls by the early part of the second quarter, much to the chagrin of Hawkeye head coach Jan Jensen, who didn’t relent in expressing her anger towards the officials.
By the time the second half unfolded, the Cyclones had regained control. Thanks to the scoring heroics of Crooks and sophomore forward Addy Brown, they led by as many as 10 points in the closing minutes of the third quarter. All seemed lost for Iowa until a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers by senior guards Kylie Feuerbach and Syd Affolter brought the Hawkeyes back from the brink to down only 56-53 going into the fourth quarter.
As the final quarter unfolded, the Hawkeyes found their groove at the right moment, surging with a 9-0 run at the 2:11 mark. A pair of baskets, free throws and Iowa State turnovers—including a steal by freshman guard Taylor Stremlow off Crooks—made the difference. The icing on the cake came when freshman guard Aaliyah Guyton hit a huge 3-pointer to put the Hawkeyes up 71-63 with under a minute remaining.
Despite the early struggles and frustration with the officiating, the Hawkeyes pulled off their most gutsy victory thus far in front of one of the loudest crowds at Carver Hawkeye Arena. The excitement caught Caitlin Clark’s attention, as she expressed her excitement on X/Twitter while attending the TIME event honoring her for being named Athlete of the Year.
Olsen finished with 25 points, going 9-for-22 from the field and 7-for-9 at the free throw line, and five assists. Affolter came away with 16 points, going 6-for-11 from the field while grabbing rebounds. Junior forward Hannah Stuelke was a perfect 4-for-4 from the field to finish with 13 points and nine rebounds. Feuerbach had six points and three rebounds. Guyton had six points by going 2-for-2 from the 3-point line. Stremlow notched six points and grabbed five rebounds.
On the Iowa State side, Crooks finished with a game-high 31 points, shooting 14-for-22 from the field and capturing 10 rebounds. Brown garnered 13 points, shooting 3-for-4 from the 3-point line, and grabbed five rebounds.
Iowa (7-1) takes on No. 17 Michigan State (9-0) on the road on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 12 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.
