Hawkeyes clamp down on Toledo 94-57, move to 3-0

IOWA CITY — This could be a better team than last year.

OK, let’s slow down and qualify that statement.

“I thought we have the potential to be a little better defensively than we were,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “We graduated a whole lot of points — a lot of flashy points — and we weren’t going to replicate that.

“So, was there a way we could get a little better on the defensive side?”

There was Wednesday.

Fueled by a 17-0 first-quarter surge, Iowa routed Toledo, 94-57, in a non-conference women’s basketball game before a paid crowd of 14,998 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The Hawkeyes led by as many as 40 points, and improved to 3-0 for the fifth straight year.

“Our defense leads to offense, and we were getting a lot of stops,” Hannah Stuelke said.

Iowa held Toledo (1-1) to 23-percent shooting and forced 11 turnovers — including three shot-clock violations — before intermission.

As a result, the Hawkeyes had the pregame point spread (28 1/2 points) covered before halftime.

“These games are a little difficult to prepare for, especially when you come off a game (last Sunday against Virginia Tech), that was intense and had an NCAA (tournament) vibe.”

Down 8-5 through 2 1/2 minutes, Iowa stomped on the gas. Stuelke scored six points in that pivotal 17-point run.

The Hawkeyes led 28-10 by the end of the end of the first quarter, and just kept cooking. It was 49-21 at halftime.

Defense has been a secondary part of Iowa’s scheme in recent years. The Hawkeyes surrendered more than 80 points per game four years ago, The last three seasons, it’s been a little better (low-70s each year).

Through three games this season: 60.7 points per game allowed.

“Lucy (Olsen) is so long,” Jensen said. “Kylie (Feuerbach) has always been a good defender. Syd (Affolter) is a good defender. Hannah is a good defender.”

The Hawkeyes defended, and they attacked offensively, shooting 32 free throws (making 28).

“We attacked, they fouled us, we went to the line,” said Stuelke, who was 9-for-9 from the stripe in a team-high 17-point, nine-rebound effort.

Olsen and Taylor McCabe added 14 points, Affolter 11.

Affolter joined the Iowa starting lineup for the first time this season.

She underwent a knee scope in the offseason, missed the opener, then came off the bench in Sunday’s win over Virginia Tech at Charlotte, N.C.

Addison O’Grady tallied 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting from the floor. She had made 17 of 20 (85 percent) through three games.

Ranked in the top five most of the last two seasons, Iowa has been just outside of the Associated Press top 25 so far this year.

“We’ll let them sleep on us,” McCabe said. “Rankings only matter at the end of the year.”

Sammi Mikonowicz led Toledo with 17 points.

The Hawkeyes play the first of their three intrastate games Sunday at Drake.

Iowa 94, Toledo 57

At Iowa City

TOLEDO (57): Jessica Cook 0-0 0-0 0, Kendall Carruthers 5-11 1-2 15, Cadence Dykstra 1-7 0-0 2, Khera Goss 2-8 0-0 5, Sammi Mikonowicz 6-13 4-6 17, Nan Garcia 0-5 0-0 0, Hannah Noveroske 4-7 2-2 10, Faith Fedd-Robinson 0-5 0-0 0, Kendall Braden 1-2 0-0 2, Ella Weaver 0-3 0-0 0, Emmi Rinat 1-1 0-0 3, Destiny Robinson 1-4 0-0 3, Evalyse Cole 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-67 7-10 57.

IOWA (94): Hannah Stuelke 4-6 9-9 17, Addison O’Grady 3-5 4-4 10, Sydney Affolter 4-5 3-3 11, Kylie Feuerbach 2-4 1-2 5, Lucy Olsen 6-9 2-2 14, Taylor Stremlow 1-2 2-2 4, Taylor McCabe 5-9 0-0 14, Teagan Mallegni 2-5 2-2 6, Ava Heiden 2-4 2-4 6, Jada Gyamfi 2-3 1-2 5, Callie Levin 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Ediger 0-2 2-2 2. Totals 31-54 28-32 94.

Toledo 10 11 18 18 — 57

Iowa 28 21 22 23 — 94

3-point goals: Toledo 8-33 (Carruthers 4-7, Dykstra 0-4, Goss 1-4, Mikonowicz 1-3, Garcia 0-4, Fedd-Robinson 0-3, Braden 0-1, Weaver 0-3, Rinat 1-1, Robinson 0-2, Cole 0-1), Iowa 4-14 (Feuerbach 0-2, Olsen 0-1, McCabe 4-8, Mallegni 0-2, Gyamfi 0-1). Team fouls: Toledo 22, Iowa 17. Fouled out: Mallegni. Rebounds: Toledo 31 (Noveroske 7), Iowa 39 (Stuelke 9). Assists: Toledo 11 (Dykstra 5), Iowa 18 (Affolter, Olsen 4). Steals: Toledo 4 (Garcia 2), Iowa 6 (Affolter, Feuerbach 2). Turnovers: Toledo 16, Iowa 8.

Attendance: 14,998.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com