Emma Calabro
Hannah Stuelke shoots a layup during a women’s basketball game between Iowa and No. 4 Southern California at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. The Hawkeyes defeated the Trojans, 76-69. The sold-out game marked Iowa’s first Big Ten game against the Trojans and the retirement of the No. 22 for former Iowa guard Caitlin Clark.
With the graduation of a lot of flashy threes this past offseason, the Iowa women’s basketball team has had to rely more on crisp fundamentals to get points. This includes enhanced free throw shooting, smart passing, and hard work in the paint.
The post players work hard to add to Iowa’s side of the scoreboard and create opportunities for their teammates. While such Hawkeyes as third-year Taylor McCabe have found their niche behind the arc, Iowa’s size, specifically fourth-year Addison O’Grady, third-year Hannah Stuelke, and first-year Ava Heiden, has come in clutch in many a game.
“My teammates are doing a really good job at getting me the ball,” O’Grady said after a 27-point performance in the Hawkeyes’ 86-73 win over Drake on Nov. 17, 2024. “I think it’s really good that we’re looking inside and getting our inside game going.”
Perhaps the most interesting part of this dynamic has been on the coaching side of the team. While Jan Jensen is now known as the new head coach for the Hawkeyes, the veteran leader previously spent time as a post coach in her role as the associate head coach under predecessor Lisa Bluder.
Jensen’s knowledge of such a critical position has helped in her new position. On Feb. 2, Iowa, still reeling from a recent five-game Big Ten losing streak, upset No. 4 USC at home, 76-69. A primary factor for the triumph was the strong second half performance from O’Grady, who chipped in 13 clutch points, including eight in the fourth quarter, in the win.
“Addi O’Grady, she’s got a really difficult job from the outside,” Jensen said after the game. “She started, she didn’t, we’re here, we’re there, and she’s just stayed really ready. And what I love about that, it’s such a great lesson, I think, to a lot of kids on different teams.”
For her part, Stuelke contributed 10 points against USC, playing an interchangeable yet unique role in the paint despite battling foul trouble.
“I’d like to point out Hannah Stuelke because she was seeing how Addi was going,” Jensen said. “That top-and-in look, that’s my favorite. I’d prefer, not as much with this particular team, to enter it from the wing. When we enter it from the top, a lot of good things happen. I’m really, really happy for both of them but really happy for how selfless they both are.”
With Jensen’s leadership, first as an assistant in the Bluder era and now as the top dog on the coaching staff, Iowa players such as Monika Czinano, Megan Gustafson, and the aforementioned O’Grady, Stuelke, and Heiden have thrived.
For instance, Czinano was named to four consecutive All-Big Ten teams, leading the nation in shooting percentage her third and fourth years. Gustafson was named the National Player of the Year in 2019, the first player in Big Ten history to receive this accolade. And Heiden, despite being only a first-year player, collects an average of 4.1 points per game despite playing only 10 minutes per game.
Czinano and Gustafson have since departed the Hawkeye program, but the position they filled remains as volatile as ever with the current roster. O’Grady, Heiden, and Stuelke have each contributed their fair share to the Hawkeyes.
Iowa is also well-positioned to have success in the future, as Alaska high school phenom Layla Hays will join the program ahead of the 2025-26 season. All of this past and present success shows that Jensen has not only the experience but also the confidence to continue the Hawkeyes’ dominant legacy of stout post play.
“I just am more confident in myself, and my teammates are confident in me,” Stuelke said after a 26-point outing in an 85-80 win against Northwestern on Jan. 28. “It was amazing. My teammates were getting me the ball all the time. I guess it was just rolling for me.”