VIDEO: A tearful Hannah Stuelke will always treasure Sydney Affolter’s friendship

VIDEO: A tearful Hannah Stuelke will always treasure Sydney Affolter’s friendship.

Hannah Stuelke Can’t Stop Blaming Herself After Losing and Being Eliminated from March Madness.

Iowa women’s basketball: Hannah Stuelke called for intentional foul, Jan Jensen technical

Sometimes when things go bad, they go really bad.

That was the case Monday during the Iowa women’s basketball game vs. Oklahoma in the NCAA Tournament.

With 8:52 left in the third quarter and Iowa trailing 38-29, Hawkeye junior Hannah Stuelke made a nice reverse layup against the Sooners.

And then Stuelke was whistled for … an intentional foul?

Officials determined after watching video replay that Stuelke’s inadvertent arm to Raegan Beers’ face deserved an intentional foul. It was an unusual and unexpected decision by the refs, to say the last.

The Sooners made two free throws and got the ball, and then hit a 3-pointer. Suddenly Oklahoma was ahead 43-29.

Oklahoma then turned on the afterburners and took a 25-point lead at the end of the third quarter. Iowa coach Jan Jensen was given a technical foul with a minute left in the quarter after a no-call that saw Stuelke get hit hard under the basket.

Iowa Hawkeyes guard Lucy Olsen (33) drives to the lane during the second round of the NCAA March Madness Women's college basketball game between University of Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa Hawkeyes at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Monday, March 24, 2025.

Takeaways as Iowa women’s basketball bows out of March Madness against Oklahoma!

With the weight of the last few years on their shoulders, the 2024-25 Iowa women’s basketball team had a mountain of expectations placed upon their shoulders. When things looked dicey midseason, they rallied and came together for an incredibly strong stretch run.

The Hawkeyes punched their ticket to yet another NCAA Tournament and notched another postseason victory with their first-round win over Murray State. Unfortunately, Iowa met its final minutes on the road against the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners as they fell 96-62.

Oklahoma overwhelmed Iowa on the offensive glass collecting rebound after rebound and caught fire from three in the second half to put things out of reach as they punched a ticket to the Sweet 16.

Iowa finishes the season a very, very respectable 23-11 with a lot to be proud of and take into next year. As the sun sets on this season, check out the takeaways from the final game of the year.

Sooner coach Jennie Branaczyk celebrates with the players during the second round of the NCAA March Madness Women's college basketball game between University of Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa Hawkeyes at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Okla., Monday, March 24, 2025.

Rebounding and paint domination decided this game

Iowa struggled in the paint all day long and it reared its ugly head as this game went on. Oklahoma pounded the boards and the Hawkeyes had no answer in stopping the rebounding or slowing down the points in the paint. The Sooners made a living with easy buckets at the rim all day and that often leads to a ton of success.

Oklahoma outrebounded Iowa by an eye-popping margin of 64-33 with 24 of those rebounds coming on the offensive glass. The Sooners also handily won the matchup in the paint outscoring Iowa 38-24 down low.

Lucy Olsen went out swinging

Lucy Olsen went out on her sword. She stayed aggressive. She stayed tough. She stayed true to herself. That is all you could ask for from a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten selection. She played as a leader today.

In her final collegiate game, Olsen was Iowa’s offensive spark trying everything in her power to will this team to a comeback. She finished the day with a patented Lucy Olsen performance delivering 20 points to lead the Hawkeyes as she so often did this season.

 

What Lucy Olsen meant to Iowa this year can’t be stated enough or even quantified. She had impossibly large shoes to fill with Caitlin Clark departing and she stepped in like she had been an Iowa Hawkeyes for her entire career. She bought into Iowa, became a fan favorite, and has shown Iowa can be a player for the top transfer portal players to come and immediately succeed.

Iowa will be back

This isn’t the end of an era for Iowa. If anything, it is the beginning of a new one. This team entered life without Caitlin Clark and still made their way to the NCAA Tournament and won a game. That signifies what this team is about.

Iowa returns firepower next year with Aliyah Guyon, Taylor Stremlow, Tayor McCabe, Hannah Stuelke, and Ava Heiden. There are also reinforcements coming. Iowa has three top-100 recruits coming next year with Addie Deal, Layla Hays, and Journey Houston making their way to the Hawkeyes.

 

Add in proven portal success from Lucy Olsen and the Hawkeyes can shop for experienced scorers and talent to keep this train rolling.

Iowa isn’t going anywhere.