Cody Blissett
Iowa guard Lucy Olsen exits the court following a basketball game between No. 11 Iowa and No. 14 Wisconsin at the TIAA Big Ten Women’s Basketball Tournament at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. The Hawkeyes defeated the Badgers 81-54. Olsen broke 2000 career points and finished the night with 19 points, going 3-4 on 3-point attempts.
Lucy Olsen was born in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, just a 45-minute drive from Villanova University where Olsen attended for three years. As a freshman, Olsen got her footing in NCAA DI women’s basketball by averaging 7 points and 3 assists.
In her second year at Villanova, Olsen averaged 12 points, four rebounds, and four assists, earning her second team All-BIG EAST honors. It wasn’t until her third season at Villanova that she put herself on the map.
In her junior season, Olsen averaged 23 points, five rebounds, and four assists. That statline earned her the Big East most-improved player award alongside a First Team All-Big East selection. Her 23-point-per-game average was also
At this point in her career, Olsen had already won awards, made appearances on first team and second team All-Big East, and reached the sweet sixteen in the NCAA tournament.
Entering her senior year, what did Lucy Olsen decide to do? Transfer to Iowa.
On April 24, 2024, Lucy Olsen officially signed with the Iowa Hawkeyes, a program coming off back-to-back national championship appearances. But the team had a completely new look from what had gotten them to those two championship games.
At the end of the 2024 season, Clark and Kate Martin entered the draft, and Gabbie Marshall was leaving the program. And head coach Lisa Bluder later announced she was retiring from basketball.
With this, assistant head coach Jan Jensen was promoted to head coach, and she had her star player in Olsen.
“I loved my three years at Villanova, but I really wanted to find a school that appreciated women’s basketball and women’s sports,” Olsen said in an interview with the Iowa Center for Advancement. “I wanted to find a program that would allow me to develop and grow my skills and would prepare me to play professionally. I also wanted to fit well into the offense. The more I thought about it, the more I knew Iowa was the right choice.”
Right from the start, Olsen began playing at a high level, proving this is her team now. In the first game of the season against Northern Illinois University, Olsen was the highest scorer between both teams with 19 points.
Night in and night out, Olsen was giving her all on the court while providing leadership to her teammates.
After the departure of Clark and Lisa Bluder, the buzz around the Iowa women’s basketball program started to die down. Was Lucy Olsen on the same level as Clark? No. Did she deserve the same recognition, especially around campus, as Clark? Absolutely.
Olsen finished out the season averaging 18 points, four rebounds, and five assists and earning a spot on the first All-Big Ten team. Alongside those high-quality stats, Olsen led the Hawkeyes to the quarterfinals as the 11th seed before their one-point loss to Ohio State.
In terms of the NCAA tournament, Olsen pocketed a double-double with 12 points and 12 assists in the opening round of their 92-57 victory against Murray State. In the second round against third-seeded Oklahoma, Olsen left absolutely everything on the court and scored 20 points, five rebounds, and two assists.
“Yeah, I’m super grateful that I got the chance to play here,” Olsen said in the postgame interview after the Hawkeyes’ loss to Oklahoma. “There were a lot of ups and downs, but I’m super proud of the team, and everyone became my family. I’ve got the best coach here, so yeah, I’m just super grateful for it. I wouldn’t want it any other way. It [a win] just wasn’t supposed to happen tonight.”
Coming into a program that lost the best women’s college basketball player of all time and their 24-year tenured head coach is not an easy feat whatsoever. Lucy Olsen took on the challenge and absolutely shined as she led the Hawkeyes to the success nobody saw coming.