Iowa women’s basketball is eyeing polish ahead of its season opener against Southern at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Monday.

Hawkeye head coach Lisa Bluder said her team has spent the past week adding to the playbook and working on transition zone defense and new strategies.

Iowa blew out Division II Nebraska-Kearney, 102-29, on Oct. 28. Despite the lopsided score, Bluder said the Hawkeyes need to improve defensively and get better at rebounding. The Lopers only put up 29 points against the Hawkeyes in the exhibition but grabbed 11 offensive rebounds to Iowa’s eight.

The Hawkeyes also committed 12 turnovers. While the number is below the Hawkeyes’ 14.7 turnovers per game in 2021-22, the Lopers are under the Hawkeyes’ usual caliber of opponents.

Iowa’s opening games against Southern, Evansville, and Drake this week will be telling if the Hawkeyes’ work on fundamentals over the summer has paid off, Bluder said.

“That’s what I want to see,” Bluder said in a Zoom press conference with reporters on Thursday. “I want to see is fundamentally sound. You spend all summer working on fundamentals, and you find out in your first games if it paid off, and I hope it did.”

While Bluder said she doesn’t want to overlook Iowa’s first three opponents, she also hopes to prioritize getting minutes for younger players and experimenting with different plays.

Freshman Hannah Stuelke will likely see her fair share of playing time in Monday’s season-opener against Southern. Stuelke put up 18 points in just 22 minutes against Nebraska-Kearney and grabbed six rebounds.

“I think she’s one of our top six, seven players,” Bluder said. “I just think she’s that good. And she’s going to get better. That’s the thing.”

Bluder said Stuelke will likely be the first post player off the bench against teams that utilize a five-guard offense, which Southern often does.

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Heading into the 2022-23 season, Bluder said she thinks her No. 4 Hawkeyes are both mentally and physically prepared for the season.

“I think they’ve done what they’ve needed to do over the summer as far as weight training, taking care of their bodies nutritionally,” Bluder said. “So now it’s time to kind of reap some of the rewards for the hard work.”

While the Hawkeyes are playing against lower Division I schools, Bluder said she emphasizes a strong start and anticipation is high going into the season-opener.

“I told the team the beginning is the most important part, right?” Bluder said. “If you don’t start well, it’s hard to get back on track.”

Iowa will be playing its first three games this season over a seven-day span, leaving the Hawkeyes limited time in between contests to prepare for each team.

Because of this, Bluder said her team has spent each day preparing for a different opponent.

“It gives you a little more motivation when you think, ‘Okay, today we are working on Team X,’” Bluder said. “And it just makes it more fun and I think it brings more energy to practice.”