Wisconsin
Iowa women’s basketball: Hawkeyes wear down Wisconsin for senior day win
IOWA CITY — It required some time to get the Iowa women’s basketball engine cranked Sunday afternoon. But once it was humming, the Hawkeyes molded this Wisconsin matchup into a familiar final product.
Jan Jensen’s squad methodically wore down a Badgers squad featuring all-conference forward Serah Williams and not much else. A strong third-quarter finish spilled momentum into the fourth, and Iowa took it from there for an 81-66 win on senior day inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
The Hawkeyes (20-9, 10-8 Big Ten Conference) have now run their winning streak to 30 over Wisconsin (13-16, 4-14) dating to February 2007.
“I’ve been around enough senior days, they’re just weird,” Jensen said. “They’re odd. With women — that’s all I’ve coached — there’s just a lot of connection. (Saturday), there were tears in practice. Happy tears. So you’re managing all of that. You try to talk about the pink elephant in the room and get them to be in that 40 minutes. So that, I just never know about senior days.”
Many of Iowa’s victories during this Badger domination have been wrapped up by intermission, light on drama over the final 20 minutes. Sunday’s victory fell somewhere short of that, but only slightly. Although a lingering Wisconsin squad remained close enough to not get blown out, the Badgers never offered up any serious upset vibes.
Buoyed by an emphatic third quarter that generated a large chunk of her 21 points and 15 rebounds, Hannah Stuelke handed Iowa its first double-digit lead of the day at 60-50 with 1:23 remaining in the third quarter. Wisconsin only got sporadically closer the rest of the way.
The only remaining drama was if Jensen could sub out all five seniors consecutively for proper crowd sendoffs. She managed to do that in the waning moments with Iowa comfortably ahead.
“I’m just proud we got the win today,” said senior guard Lucy Olsen, who led the Hawkeyes with 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting. “Going into the (Big Ten) Tournament on a loss would’ve been bad. So I’m just glad we got the win today. But I can’t believe I’m a senior here at Iowa. All this doesn’t seem real.”
Production from Olsen and Stuelke paired with double-digit assistance via Sydney Affolter (10 points) and Addi O’Grady (10 points) to stabilize Iowa’s offense just enough. The Hawkeyes still had some barren stretches, particularly to start the second quarter while trying to shake off a sluggish defensive first quarter. But enough Wisconsin futility in the second half gave Iowa the senior-day result it was hunting.
“It wasn’t like I thought we were just going to show up and have a heyday. I kind did get a little bit intense at halftime,” said Jensen, whose squad was deadlocked 36-36 at intermission. “I didn’t think our defensive intensity was there. I think we were worried about the emotions. It felt like we just didn’t have our focus.”
The Hawkeyes do now and will head to the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis off a solid finish to the regular season, going 5-2 in February followed by this March 2 win. The Hawkeyes are the No. 11 seed and will face these Badgers again ay 7:30 p.m. Wednesday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
Dargan Southard is a sports trending reporter and covers Iowa athletics for the Des Moines Register and HawkCentral.com. Email him at msouthard@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter at @Dargan_Southard.
About 1,000 animal welfare activists who tried to gain entry on Saturday to a beagle breeding and research facility in Wisconsin were turned back by police who fired rubber bullets and pepper spray into the crowd and arrested the group’s leader.
It was the second attempt in as many months by protesters to take beagles from the Ridglan Farms facility in Blue Mounds, a small town about 25 miles (about 40 kilometres) southwest of Wisconsin’s capital, Madison.
Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett said in a video statement that 300 to 400 protesters were “violently trying to break into the property” and assault officers. He said protesters have ignored designated areas for peaceful protest and blocked roads to prevent emergency vehicles from entering.
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Barrett said.
The sheriff’s department said a “significant” number of people were arrested out of about 1,000 protesters at the site but did not give an exact total as they were still being processed as of the afternoon.
Protesters tried to overcome barricades that included a manure-filled trench, hay bales and a barbed-wire fence. Some protesters did get through the fence but were unable to enter the facility, where an estimated 2,000 beagles are kept, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde reflects on early March Madness exit
Wisconsin guard Andrew Rohde said the Badgers ‘thought we could do so many things’ in the NCAA Tournament before it ended abrupty with an upset loss.
Wisconsin men’s basketball has added a sharpshooting wing via the transfer portal.
Miami (Ohio) transfer Eian Elmer has signed with the Badgers, the team announced April 18. The 6-foot-7 wing will join UW with one year of eligibility remaining.
Elmer averaged a career-high 12.7 points and 5.9 rebounds while shooting 49.8% from the field and 42.9% from 3-point range in 2025-26. His production helped the RedHawks go 32-2 and earn an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
“We are really excited to add another excellent addition to our spring signees,” UW coach Greg Gard said in a release. “Eian brings a wealth of experience and scoring punch as a 6-7 wing. … A terrific shooter, his skillset and production fit excellently into our plan as we build out next year’s team. Throughout our evaluation process, our staff loved his size, power and skill and truly believe he will thrive in our system.”
Elmer is Wisconsin’s third transfer portal addition since the end of the 2025-26 season, joining former George Washington guard Trey Autry and former Hofstra forward Victory Onuetu. UW also added Australian guard Owen Foxwell.
The additions of Autry, Onuetu and now Elmer leave Gard’s staff with three more roster spots to fill ahead of the 2026-27 season.
The Badgers are looking to replace much of their production from a 2025-26 team that went 24-11. Nolan Winter is expected to be the team’s only returning starter after John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas entered the transfer portal and Nick Boyd and Andrew Rohde exhausted their eligibility.
MILWAUKEE – Friday’s severe storms have passed. And with that, the threat of any severe weather has also passed for the immediate future as no storms or rain are expected for several days.
However, plenty of damage remains across southeastern Wisconsin as of Saturday morning, in addition to the ongoing flooding threat.
Several area rivers are at flood stage, and there are multiple river flood warnings in effect.
FOX6 Weekend WakeUp on Saturday begins at 6 a.m.
On the scene in the morning
What we know:
Farmstead damage in Franklin
FOX6’s Hayley Spitler is in Franklin on Saturday morning, April 18, getting a daylight look at the damage from last night’s storms.
Storm damage in Caledonia
Friday’s storms left quite the mark across southern and southeastern Wisconsin, including at L and L Farms and Greenhouse in Caledonia.
FOX6 Weather Extras
Local perspective:
Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following:
FOX6 Storm Center app
FOX LOCAL Mobile app
FOX Weather app
Maps and radar
We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly — to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view — it’s all there.
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School and business closings
When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin.
FOX6 Weather Experts in social media
The Source: Information in this post was compiled by the FOX6 Weather Experts.
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