Iowa-Indiana women’s basketball: ‘A rivalry can override records’

IOWA CITY — According to Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen, “a rivalry can override records.”

And that’s what maintains a level of intrigue when the 14th-ranked Hawkeyes visit Indiana for Sunday’s Big Ten women’s basketball game at Bloomington, Ind.

Tipoff is 4 p.m. (CT) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

“I don’t trust records and standings,” Jensen said. “And I certainly don’t trust them with (IU Coach) Teri (Moren).

One of the Big Ten’s top programs in recent years, Indiana (11-6, 0-5) has plummeted in the past three weeks.

“With the (transfer) portal and graduation, you can have some really great eras and then lose some really great players,” Jensen said. “But the thing with Indiana ... I respect Teri so much. They’re going to be scary for anybody.”

The Hawkeyes’ last game, also against a back-end Big Ten team, was scary enough. Northwestern hung with Iowa for nearly three quarters Monday before the Hawkeyes prevailed, 67-58.

“That was one of those games ... the beginning was really great,” Jensen said. “Then the foul trouble happened, we got off the rails and we didn’t find a way to get back on.

“We had an off day, and that’s on me.”

Off day or not, the Hawkeyes (13-2, 4-0) are tied for first place in the Big Ten, with fourth-ranked UCLA.

Four other teams — Maryland, Michigan State, Ohio State and Michigan — are a half-game back.

Indiana has won two straight against Iowa, and the last 10 games have been split evenly.

That included the Hawkeyes’ 74-67 win in the 2022 Big Ten tournament final, and an 86-85 Iowa victory on Caitlin Clark’s 3-point shot at the buzzer in 2023 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The mother of Iowa sophomore guard Taylor Stremlow, Sarah (Scheutz) Stremlow played at Butler (then coached by Moren) from 1994 through 1998.

Sarah led the Bulldogs to an NCAA tournament appearance in 1996 and was the Midwestern Collegiate Conference player of the year in 1998.

Among the other schools that recruited her: Drake, coached by Lisa Bluder and assisted by Jensen.

“My grandma found the letter from Bluder in Mom’s recruiting mail,” said Stremlow, who has entered the Hawkeyes’ starting lineup as a result of Kylie Feuerbach’s ankle injury.

Feuerbach remains day-to-day, with Jensen saying, “I hope we get a huge jump with Kylie (this week).”

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com