Iowa
Oklahoma 96, Iowa 62: OUtmuscled
Oklahoma 96, Iowa 62: OUtmuscled
NORMAN — Sixth-seeded Iowa fell in the round of 32 on Monday, losing 96-62 to third-seeded Oklahoma in Norman to close the 2024-25 season. In what was a physical contest from the tip, the Sooners were the aggressor against the Hawkeyes.
Oklahoma’s size, strength and speed were simply too much for Iowa, who didn’t have the physical prowess to matchup with the Sooners. OU not only out-rebounded Iowa, 64-33, but the Hawkeyes couldn’t match Oklahoma’s shooting. OU shot 33-of-81 (40.7%) from the floor and 19-of-27 from the free throw line to Iowa’s 24-of-66 (36.3%) from the field and 4-of-7 (57.1%) from the free throw line.
“They’re really good. They’re athletes. They hit the portal hard,” head coach Jan Jensen said following the loss. “They’re bigger, faster, stronger. I told you yesterday the degree of difficulty to guard all that.”
The rebounding margin was the strongest indicator of the difference between the two teams.
“I think going into the game, that was definitely something we knew was going to be a key. They definitely got a majority of the second-chance points. That was from the rebounds,” said Kylie Feuerbach, who finished with 14 points and six rebounds. “They did a great job at positioning. We probably could have done a little better. But we knew going into the game their box-outs and rebounds would be really important.”
Sydney Affolter, Iowa’s leading rebounder against OU with nine, added that the game was more physical than the Hawkeyes were used to.
“The refs definitely let us play,” she said. “They have some big girls, big posts and big guards all around. We could have done a lot better on the boards. I thought we did a little bit better in the second half. They crashed pretty hard.”
“We knew going in that SEC teams are really physical — a lot more than the Big Ten,” starting center Hannah Stuelke said. “They’re just an amazing rebounding team. That’s something they hang their hat on.”
The boards weren’t the only place the Hawkeyes had a disadvantage.
Though it certainly wasn’t all at the hands of the officials, — and no one on Iowa’s roster will tell you it was — Stuelke and the Hawkeyes definitely didn’t benefit from the officiating on Monday evening.
The most glaring call came in the beginning of the second half, when Stuelke made a reverse layup and inadvertently made contact with Raegan Beers‘ face with her off hand. The officials went to the monitor and handed Stuelke an “intentional foul” that not only gave the Sooners two free throws (which were made by Payton Verhulst, who finished with 16 points) and the possession, but shifted momentum heavily in the favor of OU.
“It was an accident,” Stuelke said after the game. “I have no control over that, so I don’t know. I’ve never been called for an intentional before. That was my first one. I elbowed her in the face on accident.”
Stuelke added that the officials didn’t explain the reasoning for the call to her. Jensen was disappointed with the decision by the officials for several reasons.
“I didn’t have a chance to see it,” she said. “I just asked some unbiased people at the scorer’s table, and I don’t know if they were NCAA [officials], one was an Oklahoma [official]. I said, ‘What’s your gut on that?’ They were like ‘We’re a little surprised it got upgraded.’ … I think our players were pretty frustrated. I was trying to calm them down, but I thought that was a big swing in the game.”
OU shot 20 more free throws than the Hawkeyes, who shot a total of 11 between Monday night’s game and their matchup with Murray State on Saturday.
“Oklahoma, they’re going to win. When it’s called like that — and it was not why we lost the game; let that be clear — but 27 to seven,” Jensen said. “So I think that’s part of it. I don’t think we thought about it much at the time. I don’t think the players did. I think we were really hitting. I don’t think you can really — without some bigs, really big bodies, you can’t really slow or stop Oklahoma. You’ve got to score with them.”
Looking into the future of the Iowa roster, though they won’t be able to control the problems with officiating, Jensen plans to adjust and address the issues that faced them against the Sooners.
“I think it has to be a change now,” Jensen said. “I think we have a lot of great pieces, but they’re young. … I love our pieces. I think we can develop them, and that will always be my model. We’re graduating Syd and we don’t have a lot of depth at the one. We have Aaliyah Guyton. Addie Deal plays off the ball and on. You’re going to look and see what we need.”
The transfer portal opens tomorrow.
“We’ll be really busy,” Jensen added. “I love the pieces we have coming back, I just think we need a little more size. You saw them — Beers changes the game. Then you’ve got 24 [Skylar Vann], 34 [Liz Scott], 0 [Beatrice Culliton] who are all big bodies, and then you add Sahara Williams. We’ll look in the portal.”
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Iowa
Vote: Who Should be Iowa’s High School Athlete of the Week? (4/19/2026)
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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Iowa
Houston icon George Foreman laid to rest in Iowa, drawn by a peaceful 1988 visit
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.
Copyright © 2026 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
Iowa
GOP governor candidate Zach Lahn pitches Iowa-first platform at Dubuque town hall
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) — About 50 Iowans braved the threat of severe storms to hear from Republican candidate for governor Zach Lahn at his town hall in Dubuque Friday night.
Lahn, a farmer and businessman, said his campaign is about solving the long-term systemic issues facing Iowans.
One priority is addressing what Lahn calls a cancer crisis in Iowa, as the state has the second-highest cancer rate in the country. Solving the crisis means ensuring Iowans have access to clean, nitrate-free drinking water, working with farmers to reduce agricultural runoff.
“Iowans are just ready for something that they should be able to count on, like clean drinking water,” Lahn said. “We have ways to clean up the drinking water in Iowa that isn’t on the backs of farmers, but is working alongside with them because they’re drinking the water too, and they want to do what’s right.”
Lahn also wants to stop Iowa’s “brain drain,” as more of Iowa’s college graduates left the state for opportunities elsewhere.
“Don’t leave! Give me some time! I’m going to fight to keep you here,” Lahn said. “I was one of these kids. I thought I had to leave the state to find something better. We have to prioritize Iowa’s incentive dollars to make sure they’re going to grow Iowa businesses that are going to be here for the long haul, so our kids have places to work.”
Running a distinct campaign feels challenging this election, as Lahn is one of five GOP candidates who want to be Iowa’s next governor, facing U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen, state Rep. Eddie Andrews and former state Rep. Brad Sherman.
Iowa Auditor Rob Sand is the only Democrat running for the state’s top office.
Lahn said he stands out by promising Iowa will be for Iowans, pledging to ban the use of eminent domain for private gain and tax out-of-state landowners and data centers at higher rates to lower property taxes.
“It always goes back to follow the money, so when it comes to not being a weak-kneed Republican today, I believe the paramount piece of that is answering only to the citizens of Iowa, not to special interests to pad their bottom line, but what’s best for the people of Iowa,” Lahn said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
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