Hannah Stuelke is a on a mission. In the stretch run of her senior season, the Cedar Rapids native stayed hot from the field shooting 10 of 14 while leading Iowa with 22 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. Iowa stayed in undefeated and in first place in the Big Ten by building a 16 point lead in the third quarter and withstood several Michigan State runs to win 75-68.
The game started evenly matched on the floor. The Hawkeyes post players started strong with Stuelke and Heiden combining for 10 points under the hoop. Wright closed a hard fought first quarter with a buzzer-beating three-point basket to put the Hawkeyes up, 22-16.
Iowa started the second quarter with a three-point basket from Addie Deal, the Hawkeyes fourth of the day. Iowa’s defense held the Spartans to just 30.8 percent shooting from the field in the quarter. Wright led Iowa on a 7-0 run to close out the half leading, 41-29. Foul trouble for the Spartans leading scorer, Grace VanSlooten, hampered the Michigan State offense throughout the second quarter. Chit Chat Wright ended the half with a half court three pointer as time expired to give the Hawkeyes a 41-29 lead at halftime.
After Iowa built its largest lead of 17 points four minutes into the third quarter, the Spartans wouldn’t simply roll over or go away. Instead, MSU closed to within five points with 3:28 remaining. But a crowd baseline jumper to beat the shot clock by Stuelke and terrific defense the rest of the way keyed the Hawkeyes’ 75-68 victory. After that Iowa allowed only two points in the final minutes to secure the win and stay in a tie with UCLA for first place in the Big Ten.
Stuelke and center Ava Heiden were marvelous, combining for 42 points and 15 rebounds. Sophomore guard Chit-Chat Wright was Iowa’s other double-figure scorer with 11 points.
Up next for the No. 11 Hawkeyes is a road game against No. 12 Maryland on Thursday at 5pm in College Park. Coverage all season is brought to you by Meineke Muffler, Ed Morse Chevy Buick and GMC, Community Health Care Dental and Muscatine Power and Water.
