The Iowa Hawkeyes began the post-Caitlin Clark era with a 91-73 decisive win over the visiting Northern Illinois Huskies. The win also marked the first under the leadership of new head coach Jan Jensen.
After a sluggish first quarter and 15-14 lead, the Hawkeyes surged in the second quarter as they outscored the Huskies 30-20 thanks to uptempo play and sharp shooting. From there, they were on their way to victory. Even though they could have easily defeated the Huskies by 30 points, the signs were there of a team in search of an identity, with a lot of newcomers plus a few notable returners. Jensen said after the game:
We are really young. There are just six of them that are brand new to our system and eight returners, but really only seven returners and the key cog of our wheel is Syd Affolter. Syd steadies a lot of waters. When I am in the game and I’m thinking, “Wow we need to stretch it, it needs to be bigger.” Then, when I put my hat of improvement on, it is probably going to look like that at times.
Affolter was out due to her recovery from a knee injury, and her return date remains unknown. Among the returners, Kylie Feuerbach, Taylor McCabe, Hannah Stuelke and Addison O’Grady put up great numbers. Feuerbach finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, six…
