Iowa
Iowa women’s basketball takeaways: Hawkeyes conquer first true road test
Hear from Teagan Mallegni and Addi O’Grady after Iowa women’s basketball beats Drake
Hear from Teagan Mallegni and Addi O’Grady after Iowa women’s basketball beats Drake
For a 12th straight time in an opposing building, Iowa women’s basketball took the floor in front of a packed house. Sure, there were several large black-and-gold sections Sunday afternoon inside the Knapp Center. But this was the first true road challenge for this ascending Hawkeyes group.
Test, passed.
While thriving in hostile venues became second nature for last season’s Iowa team and the pieces still remaining from it, the current bunch is still generating those early-season moments that will become calming forces as the season wears on. Performances like Sunday’s 86-73 win over Drake will likely gain value as the Hawkeyes’ cohesion comes together.
“These are the games you look forward to the most,” said senior Addi O’Grady, who set a new career-high with 27 points on 13-for-21 shooting. “They’re really fun, and it’s just a charged environment.”
The Hawkeyes won’t get another true road test until Big Ten play begins on Dec. 15 at Michigan State, adding more emphasis on conquering Sunday’s challenge with a team still meshing on all fronts. With double-digit victories now in both games away from Carver-Hawkeye Arena, Iowa should plow into its upcoming stretch of neutral-site games.
Four out of Iowa’s next five games are outside Iowa City: Wednesday against Kansas in Sioux Falls, Nov. 28 and 29 versus Rhode Island and BYU at the Cancun Challenge, then Dec. 7 against Tennessee in Brooklyn. Following Sunday’s win, Jensen should feel additional confidence that her team can come out ahead in this pivotal stretch.
Other takeaways from Iowa’s in-state rivalry win:
Iowa coach Jan Jensen reflects on wave of emotions after win at Drake
The Iowa head coach improved to 4-0 with an 86-73 win over Drake, a day after a celebration of 50 years of Bulldogs women’s basketball.
Iowa’s 10-0 run to end the first half ‘might’ve won us the game’
Who blinks first when the separation stays slim can dictate how the rest of the basketball action unfolds, no matter when it arrives. Although Iowa didn’t know at the time how much its late second-quarter push would hold up, the Hawkeyes bounded into the locker room with game-changing confidence thanks to a crucial swing.
Knotted 35-35 with two minutes until the break didn’t seem like the setting for Iowa to break loose, especially after an elite defensive stretch looked like it was going to waste. The Hawkeyes held Drake to just one second-quarter field goal when Abbie Aalsma connected from deep to re-ignite the crowd.
The veteran moxie Iowa is trying to replenish stepped up when the Hawkeyes needed it most. A 10-0 sprint into the locker room arrived on Teagan Mallegni’s broad shoulders after she hit a tough layup and drained back-to-back treys in less than 90 seconds. Lucy Olsen added a mid-range basket in there for good measure.
Suddenly, a back-and-forth showdown swung Iowa’s way for good. Drake was only sporadically within double digits the rest of the way.
“That was huge, especially for our relatively younger team in the minutes they’ve played in big games,” coach Jan Jensen said. “In the past, we’ve had a lot of players who’ve been in these big games — but they dominated a lot of the minutes. So I thought that was a really huge spurt, and they went in (to the locker room) knowing they did something pretty well.
“That was hugely important. It might’ve won us the game.”
Addi O’Grady’s production continues climbing, and now, so do the expectations
For all the times recently that Iowa coaches have cautioned about using past players as blueprints for the present, O’Grady’s recent production has generated recalibrated expectations that resemble some of Iowa’s interior greats.
“The biggest compliment I can give her is I’m starting to have (Monika) Czinano and (Megan) Gustafson expectations,” Jensen said. “I was kind of cranky at a couple things she did out there. That means the expectations are growing. But I only know they’re growing because I know she can do it.“
Those are some impressive names in Iowa’s pantheon of posts. Yet, O’Grady’s start to her senior season has been worthy of the praise. A player whose career at times seemed to be spinning in the mud, O’Grady has provided the first unexpected jolt for Iowa this season.
She has scored in double figures in all four games while playing 20-plus minutes in the previous three. O’Grady’s 27 points and 10 rebounds marked her second collegiate double-double and first since her freshman season against Evansville.
“It’s really good early in the season, we’re going inside and getting our inside game going,” O’Grady said. “If our 3-pointers aren’t falling, we can fall back on that.”
O’Grady, though, is hardly a fallback option anymore.
Five people were shot and injured at an Iowa City pedestrian mall near the University of Iowa campus overnight, police said Sunday. Students from the university were among the injured, according to school officials.
The Iowa City Police Department responded to a report of a large fight in the 100 Block of East College Street at 1:46 a.m. early Sunday, the department said in a news release. Arriving officers heard gunfire.
Multiple victims were hospitalized, police said. Police confirmed to CBS News that one person was in critical condition, while the other four victims are stable.
University of Iowa President Barb Wilson said in a statement that three students were among those shot. None of the victims has been publicly identified.
No arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing. Police said they are seeking information about five “persons of interest associated with this shooting.” The university also shared the request for information.
The pedestrian mall was closed for several hours and reopened Sunday afternoon.
Here are the candidates for High School on SI’s Iowa high school athlete of the week for April 13-18. Read through the nominees and cast your vote.
Voting closes at 11:59 p.m. PT on Sunday, April 26. The winner will be announced in the following week’s poll. Here are this week’s nominees:
Taylor Roose, Pella boys track and field
Roose competed in three events at the Norwalk Invitational, winning all three in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash and long jump.
Daxon Kiesau, Urbandale boys track and field
Kiesau swept the throwing events at the Norwalk Invitational, taking first place in the shot put and the discus.
Alex Burger, Southeast Valley boys track and field
Competing at home, Burger dominated, earning four gold medals. He won the 400-meter hurdles and the long jump while running on the winning 4×200-meter relay and shuttle hurdle relay.
Kolby Hodnefield, Clear Lake boys track and field
Hodenfield, a defending state champion, broke the meet, venue and school record in the 200 and the 400 at the Clear Lake Invitational. He added victories as part of the 4×100 and 4×400 relays. Both relays also set meet records.
Easton Moon, North Polk boys tennis
Moon has started off his senior season on the courts unbeaten, winning all four matches while dropping just one game in 44 played.
Ava Lohrbach, Gilbert girls golf
One of the top golfers in the state, Lohrbach has had a hot start, firing a 35 in her nine-hole debut and a 72 for her 18-hole opener.
Nathan Manske, Algona boys golf
An elite quarterback and basketball player, Manske is showing his golfing skills this spring, coming out with a state-low 30 in a nine-hole event.
Ella Hein, Tipton girls track and field
Hein set school records in the 400-meter run and long jump at the Tiger/Tigerette Relays while also locking in the Blue Standard and qualifying for the Drake Relays. She won the long jump (18-6) and was second in the 400.
Maeve Bowen-Burt, Iowa City High girls track and field
The sophomore helped the Little Hawks land three Drake Relays events on the last night of qualifying, advancing in the 400 hurdles, along with the sprint medley and 4×400 relays.
About Our Athlete of the Week Voting
High School on SI voting polls are meant to be a fun, lighthearted way for fans to show support for their favorite athletes and teams. Our goal is to celebrate all of the players featured, regardless of the vote totals. Sometimes one athlete will receive a very large number of votes — even thousands — and that’s okay! The polls are open to everyone and are simply a way to build excitement and community around high school sports. Unless we specifically announce otherwise, there are no prizes or official awards for winning. The real purpose is to highlight the great performances of every athlete included in the poll.
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The late boxing great George Foreman lies buried in a cemetery in the northwestern corner of Iowa – a place he has no connection to outside of a lone visit to the region nearly 40 years ago.
Foreman died March 21, 2025, at the age of 76 in Houston and was buried in Logan Park Cemetery at Sioux City, Iowa, a month later, city officials confirmed. Foreman’s family returned Thursday to his burial site, holding a news conference with Sioux City Mayor Bob Scott to reveal Foreman’s burial place, marked by a large monument that bears an image of him as a teen following his Olympic gold medal boxing win.
The family explained in a statement released by Sioux City officials that he had visited the Iowa city in 1988, and often recalled the sense of peace he experienced there.
After traveling to the city on April 17 last year to bury Foreman, his family said they immediately understood the region’s appeal.
“Our father lived a life of purpose, faith and gratitude,” the family said in a statement released by Sioux City officials. “To see him laid to rest in a place that brought him peace means everything to us.”
Scott joined the family at Foreman’s monument that lies just a few miles north of the Missouri River in an upper Midwest city of nearly 87,000 people. The cemetery overlooks the scenic Loess Hills, created by windblown silt deposits that reach up to 200 feet high (about 61 meters) and line the river along the Iowa border for 200 miles (322 kilometers).
“Their story is a reminder of how one place can stay with someone for a lifetime,” Scott said.
A native Texan, Foreman rose to fame when he made the 1968 U.S. Olympic boxing team, winning gold in Mexico City. He became the heavyweight champion of the world in 1973 by defeating the great Joe Frazier, only to lose the title a year later to Muhammad Ali in the famous “Rumble in the Jungle.”
A full 20 years later in 1994, Foreman became the oldest man to win the heavyweight championship at 45, defeating Michael Moorer in an epic upset.
Foreman retired in 1997 with a 76-5 career record.
He then moved on to the next chapter in his life as a businessman, pitchman and occasional actor, becoming known to a new generation as the face of the George Foreman Grill. The simple cooking machine sold more than 100 million units and brought him more wealth than boxing.
A biographical movie based on Foreman’s life was released in 2023.
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