Iowa Loves Lucy and vice versa in Hawkeyes’ 81-54 Big Ten tourney romp over Wisconsin

INDIANAPOLIS — Lucy Olsen scored 22 points in her one conference tournament game last year, but it wasn’t fun.

Olsen’s Villanova teammates totaled just 26 points. Her team shot 34.9 percent overall and 2-of-15 from 3-point range, and the Wildcats lost 50-48 to Marquette in a Big East quarterfinal.

Olsen led Iowa in scoring Wednesday night with 18 points in the opening round of the Big Ten women’s tourney, but this time she had help. Lots of it.

Iowa shot 57.4 percent percent overall, made 11 of 20 threes (55 percent), outrebounded Wisconsin 41-19, and sailed to an 81-54 breeze over the Badgers win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

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The Hawkeyes (21-9) advanced to a Thursday second-round game here against No. 24 Michigan State (21-8). The game will start 25 minutes after the end of the 5:30 p.m. (Iowa time) Nebraska-Illinois game. If Iowa beats the Spartans, it will face No. 13 Ohio State in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Olsen, who has averaged 23.3 points over the last seven games, hit quite a career milestone Wednesday when she scored her 2,000th point.

“It’s exciting,” said first-team All-Big Ten honoree Olsen, “but I’m just happy to be playing basketball still, and I wouldn’t be doing it without great teammates. They gave me a lot of nice passes. I’m just lucky to be playing with them.

“I want to keep playing, and this team is so good and so special that I'm just trying to do whatever I can to let us keep playing some more basketball.”

Iowa senior forward Sydney Affolter scored all nine of her points in the first quarter when Iowa turned a 9-6 deficit into a 25-9 lead. She had a game-high seven rebounds.

Affolter played just three minutes in the second half. Iowa’s other four starters didn’t play much after the break themselves. In fact, Iowa’s leader in minutes played was freshman guard Aaliyah Guyton, with 24. The Hawkeyes had five freshmen on the floor at times, and the kids were all right.

“The freshman class are such a great group and they have so much potential,” Affolter said. “I feel for them. It’s hard when you don’t get a lot of minutes or you don’t play in some games. … I’m glad they got some valuable minutes today.”

Guyton had six points and five assists. Freshman forward Taylor Mallegni had six rebounds. Frosh guard Taylor Stremlow played 23 minutes, and had three of the rookies’ 11 assists. So did first-year guard Callie Levin.

That was all good stuff in keeping the starters fresh for what they hope is an extended run here. And it wasn’t all in mop-up time. The freshmen played a lot as their team built a 43-23 halftime lead, a far cry from the tie score at the half Sunday in Iowa City, before the Hawkeyes earned an 81-66 victory.

Iowa needed a romp this time and got one. Every single player, Hawkeyes Coach Jan Jensen said, “made a difference tonight.”

She said the play of the freshmen “just gives me so much hope for the future of tomorrow night, but also the future of the rest of the tournament into the postseason and into next season. You see the maturity kind of happening.”

It surely will be rest with the veterans, however, to get Iowa past Michigan State for a clash with No. 13 Ohio State Friday. The Hawkeyes’ real tournament starts Thursday.

“It was a really nice opening round victory for us.,” Jensen said. “When you're in a situation where you hopefully have the opportunity to play five games in five days. … that's what we want to do.

“It will get a little difficult tomorrow night, but for tonight, we are certainly excited.”

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