The Iowa women’s basketball team steamrolled through Rhode Island and BYU last week in  the Cancun Challenge in Mexico. The Hawkeyes improved to 8-0 on the season with the wins, despite the absence of fourth-year point guard Lucy Olsen due to a knee laceration sustained in practice. 

Iowa will now set its sights for a Saturday evening matchup against Tennessee in the inaugural Champions Classic in Brooklyn, New York.

Rhode Island

Iowa bested Rhode Island 69-62 on Thanksgiving Day to improve to 7-0 on the season. A close contest from the start, the Hawkeyes still managed to hold their own and in the process found enough of a gap to pull away in the fourth quarter to gain a seven-point margin of victory.

Fourth-year Addison O’Grady led Iowa in scoring with 18 points, picking up five rebounds and two assists in the process. The center was followed by third-year Hannah Stuelke with 13 points, as well as fourth-year Kylie Feuerbach, who had 12 points. 

Iowa outscored Rhode Island 19-15 in the first quarter, with a field goal accuracy of 53 percent compared to 42 percent for the Rams. 

Rhode Island retaliated with a much more productive second quarter, ending the half with a slim 26-25 lead. The Rams outscored the Hawkeyes by five points, holding them to just six of their own in the entire quarter. 

It was anybody’s game in the third quarter as both teams fought to maintain their lead, with four tie scores and six lead changes on the board. While the Rams were perfect from the three-point line, Iowa held its own with two threes apiece from third-year Taylor McCabe and first-year Aaliyah Guyton. 

The Hawkeyes put their foot on the gas and kept it there for the game’s fourth quarter, outscoring Rhode Island 20-13. This fourth quarter surge gave Iowa the 69-62 win.

BYU

The Hawkeyes followed up the victory over the Rams with a commanding 68-48 performance against Brigham Young, improving to 2-0 in Cancun and 8-0 overall on the season. While the Cougars trailed by just six at the half, Iowa upped their intensity to widen the gap to 20 points at the game’s end.

Stuelke led the Hawkeyes in scoring with 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists. The third-year was followed by O’Grady with 12 points and Guyton with 11 points. Fourth-year Sydney Affolter led in rebounds with 10, falling three points shy of a double-double, while racking up five steals.

Iowa outscored BYU 16-10 in the first quarter to gain some breathing room, thanks to more successful shooting. While both teams notched perfect accuracy from the charity stripe, the Hawkeyes shot 55 percent from the field, while the Cougars managed only a 16 percent clip. 

While BYU fought their way to a 9-9 second quarter scoring deadlock, Iowa’s first quarter, which included an 11-point scoring run, gave the Hawkeyes an edge going into the second half.

Iowa used the third quarter pull further from the Cougars, outscoring BYU 20-11 to pad their lead to 14 points. While the Hawkeyes shot a modest 43 percent in field goals, this included four three-pointers to shift the game further in Iowa’s favor. 

The Hawkeyes brought home the win and ended their appearance in Mexico with a dominant 23-18 scoring performance in the game’s final quarter. Iowa logged their best accuracy in both field goals and three-point shots, with 60 percent and 71 percent respectively. 

While not necessarily needed, the extra points shored up the Hawkeyes’ advantage enough to hand them a 68-48 triumph over the Cougars.

Tennessee

The competition only gets tougher for Iowa, as they get set to take on 6-0 Tennessee in the inaugural Women’s Champions Challenge in Brooklyn, New York. The Hawkeyes and Volunteers will kick off the event, followed by a matchup between UConn and Louisville approximately 30 minutes after the first game. 

Olsen, currently averaging 17.3 points per game, is also set to return to play for the Hawkeyes after a scary knee laceration in Cancun. Olsen’s injury came in a practice following a trip that resulted in a gash on her knee. The wound required stitches sidelined the fourth-year from Villanova for the games in Cancun, while her father expressed her likely return in time for the next game.

“Everyone is confident she will be back practicing when they get back to Iowa City tonight and back on the court in Brooklyn vs Tennessee next Saturday,” the point guard’s father, Roland Olsen, said in a tweet on Saturday.

The Volunteers currently hold a 2-1 lead in the overall series against Iowa, but this will be the first matchup between since 1993, when the Hawkeyes defeated Tennessee in the Elite Eight to advance to their first Final Four in program history. 

The game will be televised on FOX and will also receive coverage from the Hawkeye Radio Network.