NCAAW: Iowa is better than ever, thanks to Hannah Stuelke’s leadership

It’s been quite a week for Hannah Stuelke.

The Iowa senior was named the AP National Player of the Week, United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Player of the Week and Big Ten Player of the Week.

On Sunday, she again showed why she was worthy of such honors as No. 10 Iowa took on No. 12 Ohio State before a crowd of 15,000 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Hawkeyes came away with a lopsided win, 91-70. With their eighth-consecutive victory, Iowa is now 9-0 in the Big Ten and 18-2 overall.

Stuelke put up a double-double of 18 points and 15 rebounds. She is averaging 14.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game.

In the last week and a half, Stuelke repeatedly has risen to the occasion in big ways.

Against Indiana on Jan. 11, she had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds. Stuelke came close to another double-double with 18 points and eight rebounds in a 74-66 win over Oregon on Jan. 15. On Jan. 18, Stuelke scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds in a 75-68 win over Michigan State. She then came away with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds in the 85-78 win over Maryland on Thursday.

Stuelke is one of the last four remaining members of the Iowa teams that made it to back-to-back national championship games in 2023 and 2024. The other three are Taylor McCabe, Kylie Feuerbach, and Jada Gyamfi.

After the game, head coach Jan Jensen attributed Stuelke’s recent individual success to a few developments, one of which is the fact that she is embracing her role as a senior.

“She was nostalgic about being a senior and feeling a little bit of the pressure,” Jensen said.

Jensen shared that she noticed a change in Stuelke after non-conference play ended. Additionally, after she had a tough game against Northwestern on Jan. 5, in which she only scored eight points and grabbed five rebounds in a 67-58 win, Jensen praised Stuelke for embodying a “no I in team” ethos. Jensen explained:

She willed us in huddles. As frustrated as she was because she shot really poorly, you could just see a senior that really had taken another step and said, “Everybody, get on!” I think she is doing that with her play. Even if she is not always the most consistent, she’s gonna get it back another way and she’s forward thinking. She’s enjoying the rest of the ride and that’s where exactly you need her to be, because that’s what’s lifting everybody else up. So I’m just thrilled for her because she really is having a great stretch right now.

Outside of Stuelke, Iowa earned the convincing win over Ohio State due the the contributions of Addie Deal. The USBWA Big Ten Freshman of the Week came off to bench to fill in for McCabe, who went out with an apparent knee injury 30 seconds into the first quarter and had to be carried off the court.

Deal finished with game-high of 20 points and five assists. Ava Heiden equaled Stuelke with 18 points, finishing 9-for-11 from the field and grabbing eight rebounds. Chit-Chat Wright came alive in the second half and added 14 points, five rebounds, four 3-pointers and four assists.

With a hectic schedule ahead of them, including road games against USC and No. 4 UCLA, the Hawkeyes are going to take it one game at a time. On the Southern California challenges ahead, Feuerbach said:

Going over there, huge. Obviously our first time going over there. So onto the next game. Knowing the scout, we’ll get right into it tomorrow. Knowing personnel. It’s gonna obviously two really big games, so stay locked in ready to go.