The long-awaited start to Iowa women’s basketball’s season is officially upon us.
The 110-55 exhibition win over Missouri Western has marinated for six days now, and still, the one-game sample size against a non-Power-Four school is enough to feel good about the rebranded program’s season going forward.
Iowa’s 45-point victory saw every Hawkeye record at least two points and one rebound — a testament to the depth of this team. But it was the first-year players whose presence was the loudest, particularly guards Teagan Mallegni and Taylor Stremlow.
In just short of 20 minutes played, Mallegni did it all for the Hawkeyes off the bench, scoring 18 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists, two steals, and one block.
The McFarland, Wisconsin, native was the No. 64 overall prospect by ESPN.com and the No. 2 player in Wisconsin by PrepGirlsHoop.com. One of the better distance shooters of her high school class, Mallegni knocked down four threes in her Iowa debut, showing why she was highly recruited by many Power Four schools.
“I just like her confidence, and she’s a really good shooter,” head coach Jan Jensen said. “Everybody was recruiting her because she has that ability with that really quick trigger … You caught a glimpse of what we hopefully can look forward to from her.”
The strong start, however, was more expected rather than surprising and earned strong praise from fourth-year guard Sydney Affolter, who observed from the sidelines.
“Teagan has been playing exceptionally well,” fourth-year guard Sydney Affolter said. “I’ve been seeing that since the summer. Her talent is through the roof … The ceiling’s the limit for her.”
Stremlow, the No. 88 overall prospect by ESPN.com and a fellow Wisconsin native, logged 25 minutes in the exhibition win, the most of any Hawkeye coming off the bench.
Her six-point, nine-rebound outing as a 5-foot-10 guard brings great promise as the all-around player she was in high school when she averaged a near triple-double in her junior year.
“I’ve got to shout out Taylor Stremlow,” head coach Jan Jensen said. “She just does whatever you need her to do. She’s been playing the backup one. She really is a three, but she’ll play the backup two. Heck, that kid would even play a five backup if she needed to.”
As Jensen cuts to a shorter rotation down the road, the play from both first-year guards in their debuts certainly puts them in the mix to see meaningful minutes on a nightly basis.
Affolter injury update
Crowned as a prime player for the Hawkeyes, Affolter continues to sit out as she recovers from an offseason knee injury and procedure.
The fourth-year guard is not only one of the better and more experienced players on this deep Iowa team but a vocal leader on and off the court. And while she played well in the program’s 2024 NCAA National Championship run, she played through a nagging injury that worsened through time.
“I think it was just kind of a build-up and then how much pain I could tolerate before I got the surgery,” Affolter said. “It was definitely a lot to handle. [I’m] very glad I got it done. It was definitely needed.”
She gave a positive update on her rehab, saying she’s not rushing her return to the court as she aims to be “100 percent by January.”
“It’s been going well,” Affolter said of her injury recovery. “It’s been hard to be out. I just want to be out there competing with my girls. But I know it’s a very long season … Hopefully I’ll be back soon.”
Northern Illinois
Northern Illinois will pose a bigger challenge to Iowa in its first game of the season. The Huskies play a style of basketball that is more relative to what is seen throughout the Big Ten conference.
“It’ll be a good intro to non-conference teams,” Iowa guard Taylor McCabe said. “We typically play more small-ball type of teams where they run a lot more five-out, and it’s a lot more screening actions that we have to guard. So we’ve been working on all those actions, which is really good to build on the foundations of our defense.”
And each game Iowa plays is another opportunity to build on the culture with nearly half the roster being new to the program.
“We know we’re not going to be last year’s team — we’re not going to be the team of two years ago, and we’re fine with that,” McCabe said. “So we’re embracing that, taking on our own roles, and seeing what we can do for this team.”
The Hawkeyes will shoot for their first win this season against the Huskies at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Up next
The Iowa women’s basketball team will continue action against Virginia Tech on Sunday, a rematch of last season despite both teams looking much different this time around.