Iowa Women’s Basketball Post Game Press Conference – A lot of different looks and combinations tonight!

Full interview!

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the first time since March 6, 2020, the Iowa women’s basketball team played an official game without Caitlin Clark.

A new era was launched on Wednesday at Carver-Hawkeye Arena as Iowa defeated Northern Illinois 91-73 in the 2024-25 season opener.

It marked the first game for Jan Jensen as the Iowa head coach, the first game for Villanova transfer Lucy Olsen as a Hawkeye and the first game in the post Clark era.

Jensen was promoted to head coach on the same day Lisa Bluder announced her retirement shortly after last season, while Olsen transferred to Iowa this past summer.

It took a while for Iowa to build a lead against the Huskies, but it finally came in the second quarter when Iowa went on a 14-0 scoring run, turning a 16-15 deficit into a 29-16 lead.

Iowa would go on to lead by as many as 25 points in the second half.

Olsen led six Iowa players in double figure with 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field. She also led Iowa with seven assists.

So, by leading the team in both scoring and assists, Olsen basically did what Clark did on a regular basis as a Hawkeye.

Senior guard Kylie Feuerbach also stuffed the stat sheet with 14 points, nine rebounds, six steals and five assists.

Feuerbach played a key role off the bench last season, but she started in Wednesday’s season opener and took advantage of the opportunity.

“I kind of came in with the same mentality that I always do,” Feuerbach said. “Just working as hard as I can and whatever the outcome is, I’ll always be satisfied as long as I’m working hard.”

Olsen was looking forward to playing in front of Iowa’s raucous home crowd, and the fans certainly didn’t disappoint.

Iowa has sold out all of its home games for the second straight season.

“The energy, you could definitely feel it,” Olsen said. “It’s loud in there. It’s really cool. I don’t think I’ll every get used to running out of the tunnel.”

Freshman guard Taylor Stremlow cheers on her teammates. Photo courtesy of Hawkeyesports.com.
Jensen reflected on her first win as head coach in her post-game press conference.

“It was fun,” she said. “The players had a little celebration in the locker room, which was really cute of them.

“It’s nice to get that one because I think sometimes too much is made of it. But I understand why.”

Jensen received a scare when All-Big Ten junior forward Hannah Stuelke limped off the court in the first quarter and then headed for the tunnel.

Stuelke returned in the second half, however, and finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

Iowa also played without starting senior guard Syd Affolter, who still is recovering from having her knee scoped.

When critiquing her team’s performance on Wednesday, Jensen pointed to a lack of consistency.

“We had some moments, but we really just lacked a lot of consistency,” Jensen said. “And that’s the thing I would probably grade us pretty low in consistency.”

The Iowa women’s basketball team is coming off the greatest two-year stretch in program history as it finished as the NCAA runner-up in each of the pat two seasons.

Clark finished her career as arguably the greatest offensive player in NCAA history, and as the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer.

She also had a top-notch supporting cast, but most of them have also moved on, including guards Kate Martin and Gabbie Marshall.

Some might say that Jensen is faced with a rebuild after losing so many key players, but the Iowa women’s basketball team has been good for quite a while.

Clark just made the team great.

Bluder attended Wednesday’s game and was honored prior to tip-off, along with Jensen and former staff member Jenni Fitzgerald, who also retired after last season.

Wednesday’s game also marked the beginning for four of Iowa’s five freshmen.

Teagan Mallegni led the freshmen in scoring with 14 points off the bench.

“I think is a game where you can get internally frustrated because you feel like you should do this better, be better and all those kinds of things” Jensen said. “But I also have to take some breaths because we’re really young.”

Iowa’s next game is Sunday against Virginia Tech in Charlotte, North Carolina.