Iowa transfer Lucy Olsen and a loud home crowd helped Hawkeyes take down rival Iowa State

IOWA CITY, Iowa – With a sound meter hitting 115 decibels throughout a raucous fourth quarter, the Iowa women’s basketball team rallied from an eight-point deficit to beat No. 18 Iowa State 75-69 Wednesday at sold-out Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

It was No. 21 Iowa’s ninth consecutive home victory over the rival Cyclones dating to 2008 and eighth win in nine meetings overall. By the late fourth quarter, the roar drowned out the public address announcer after buckets.

“Lucy Olson has just been so fun and a joy,” Iowa coach Jan Jensen said of the transfer who joined the Hawkeyes this season. “The very first exhibition game her eyes were like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is amazing.’ And I said, ‘Well, wait until we really hit the game that the fans are not going to give up their tickets for, right? You’re not going to believe what it’s going to be like.’”

Iowa State (8-3) led the highly competitive matchup for all but 19 seconds over the first 35 minutes of action. But the Hawkeyes (9-1) took the lead for good on forward Hannah Stuelke’s at 62-61 with 4:17 left. It was part of a 9-0 run in the fourth quarter that gave Iowa a six-point lead that the Cyclones could not overcome.

“It was so loud in there,” Olsen said. “(Sydney Affolter’s) like, ‘We’re not switching the screens.’ I’m like, ‘I can’t hear the screen being called.’ It was really fun. I’ve never been in anything like it.”

Iowa responds

After the Hawkeyes suffered their first loss last week against Tennessee, first-year coach Jensen questioned how her team would respond.

“When you learn how everybody loses, then you can kind of know what you have moving forward,” said Jensen, who took over this season after serving as a longtime Hawkeyes assistant to former coach Lisa Bluder. “After I watched everybody kind of adapt and turn the page pretty quickly with a little bit of a chip, I thought, all right, I think we got something for this rivalry.”

It was Olsen’s first exposure playing in an intense home atmosphere, and the senior transfer from Villanova exceeded the moment. She scored a team-high 25 points and added five assists with no turnovers in nearly 37 minutes. For much of the first half, Olsen kept the Hawkeyes afloat offensively as her teammates struggled.

In the game’s final stretch, Stuelke and Affolter combined with Olsen to score 16 of Iowa’s final 19 points. The exception was a 3-pointer from freshman Aaliyah Guyton with 42 seconds left that sealed the victory.

It was one of the first times that Olsen, Affolter and Stuelke all played alongside one another for significant stretches. Stuelke had offseason knee surgery, while Affolter underwent a knee procedure in October. Then Olsen’s leg was sliced in a freak accident two weeks ago in Cancun, causing her to miss time.

Iowa State looks for answers

Sophomore Audi Crooks was almost unstoppable for Iowa State. She scored 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Her ability to score in multiple ways — not just at the rim — led to Jensen questioning herself on how to defend the Cyclones’ post.

“I didn’t think we were possibly going to shut her totally down,” Jensen said. “It’s hard to double her because no matter where you bring the double, (she has) that beautiful, like kind of Dirk Nowitzki fade. She has an unbelievable ability to step and fade.”

Three issues hurt the Cyclones throughout the game. Iowa State struggled at the free-throw line, making only 6 of 16 attempts. Foul trouble forced second-leading scorer Addy Brown to the bench, which was critical. Brown played in only 19 minutes and scored 13 points.

Before the game, Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly announced junior guard Kenzie Hare will miss the remainder of the season and will have surgery to repair an ongoing hip injury. Hare started eight games and averaged 8.3 points as the Cyclones’ third-leading scorer.

“It’s hard to have Addy Brown out of the game in foul trouble,” Fennelly said. “That’s a huge loss, and especially with Kenzie situation, we kind of struggled to kind of eat up the minutes.

“I thought our kids played really, really hard. Obviously foul trouble and some limited minutes with some people hurt us, but it was a great game. I’m really proud of the way we competed in a tough environment.”

(Photo: Keith Gillett / IconSportswire)