Four freshmen front and center in Iowa’s 84-63 rout of Purdue

IOWA CITY — Taylor Stremlow likened the college-freshman experience to a roller coaster.

“You’ve got your ups and your downs,” she said.

This was an unequivocal “up.”

Four freshmen played as a unit for three lengthy stretches and provided an enormous first-half boost, leading 24th-ranked Iowa past an overmatched Purdue outfit, 84-63, in a Big Ten women’s basketball game before a crowd of 14,998 Sunday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“It was a definite confidence boost for me,” Stremlow said, turning to classmate Aaliyah Guyton.

“For you, too?”

Guyton, whose voice was running on empty, flashed a thumbs-up and rasped, “Yes.”

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“Sorry,” Guyton continued. “I need closed captioning today.”

That fearsome freshman foursome — Stremlow, Guyton, Ava Heiden and Teagan Mallegni — closed the first quarter with a 9-2 surge, then capped the second quarter with a 15-3 run.

Iowa (11-2 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) led 50-32 at halftime, answered a 13-0 Purdue third-quarter push with a 16-0 counterpunch, and led by as many as 27 points.

Let’s discuss some of the freshmen’s first-half plus/minuses.

Stremlow: plus-23 in 12 minutes. Guyton: plus-19 in 9 minutes. Heiden: plus-17 in 8 minutes.

“Aaliyah, Teagan, Ava and me ... we’ve got to bring energy out there,” said Stremlow, whose energy always runs on high.

The end result was Iowa’s ninth consecutive win over the Boilermakers (7-6, 0-2).

“Very thankful for the win,” Iowa Coach Jan Jensen said. “We certainly had some nice moments. The freshmen had amazing moments, and they had some freshman moments.

“That one stretch, they hit every high note. It shows why they’re such a highly decorated class.”

Only one Hawkeye hit double-digits in scoring (Addison O’Grady with 12), but five others (Heiden, Stremlow and Guyton, along with Hannah Stuelke and Sydney Affolter) added nine points, and Mallegni tacked on eight more.

Stremlow, Heiden and Mallegni were a combined 11-of-12 from the field.

Iowa shot 55 percent from the field and posted a 42-27 rebounding advantage behind Heiden’s eight boards.

Destini Lombard registered 12 points and six steals for Purdue.

Prior to the game, a moment of remembrance was offered for former Iowa player and color commentator Jamie Cavey Lang, who died Dec. 21.

Jensen received a bouquet from Purdue Coach Katie Gearlds, who played against Cavey for two seasons in the mid-2000s.

The Hawkeyes are at Penn State on Wednesday.

Iowa 84, Purdue 63

At Iowa City

PURDUE (63): Reagan Bass 2-7 0-0 5, Lana McCarthy 3-6 0-0 6, Amiyah Reynolds 2-4 0-0 4, Destini Lombard 5-14 0-0 12, Ella Collier 3-10 1-2 9, Rashunda Jones 2-3 0-0 4, Kendall Puryear 1-2 0-0 2, Sophie Swanson 3-6 0-0 9, Mahri Petree 0-2 2-2 2, Jordyn Poole 3-5 1-2 7, McKenna Layden 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 25-61 4-6 63.

IOWA (84): Hannah Stuelke 3-5 3-5 9, Addison O’Grady 4-7 4-6 12, Sydney Affolter 4-5 0-0 9, Kylie Feuerbach 2-4 0-0 6, Lucy Olsen 3-10 0-0 6, Taylor Stremlow 4-4 0-0 9, Taylor McCabe 1-5 0-0 3, Ava Heiden 4-4 1-4 9, Aaliyah Guyton 4-11 0-2 9, Teagan Mallegni 3-4 0-0 8, Jada Gyamfi 1-1 0-0 2, Callie Levin 0-0 0-0 0, A.J. Ediger 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 34-62 8-17 84.

Purdue 13 19 15 16 — 63

Iowa 27 23 16 18 — 84

3-point goals: Purdue 9-22 (Bass 1-2, Reynolds 0-1, Lombard 2-6, Collier 2-5, Swanson 3-6, Layden 1-2), Iowa 8-24 (Affolter 1-2, Feuerbach 2-3, Olsen 0-4, Stremlow 1-1, McCabe 1-5, Guyton 1-6, Mallegni 2-3). Team fouls: Purdue 19, Iowa 10. Fouled out: none. Rebounds: Purdue 27 (McCarthy 5), Iowa 42 (Heiden 8). Assists: Purdue 16 (Lombard 4), Iowa 21 (Affolter, Olsen 6). Steals: Purdue 11 (Lombard 6), Iowa 12 (Affolter 4). Turnovers: Purdue 18, Iowa 16.

Attendance: 14,998.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com