Articles Tagged: Iowa women’s basketball

Moment No. 7: Christine Grant pulled off what she later described as her “best recruiting job I ever did in my life,” swaying C. Vivian Stringer to come to Iowa.

The Big Ten released women’s basketball matchups, but not dates, for the 2022-23 season. Iowa’s home schedule features dates with Indiana, Maryland and Nebraska.

Moment No. 8: In a 22-day period, Iowa women’s basketball won two Big Ten championships and had three sellouts at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Moment No. 11: Lisa Bluder became the 14th Division I women’s basketball coach to win 800 career games in 2021.

Moment No. 14: Iowa women’s basketball star Caitlin Clark became the first athlete to lead the nation in points and assists in the same season and the first to win the Dawn Staley Point Guard of the Year Award in consecutive seasons.

Moment No. 15: C. Vivian Stringer led Iowa women’s basketball to its first Elite Eight appearance in 1987 and its first No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Poll in 1988.

Moment No. 18: Carver-Hawkeye Arena opened in 1983 with more space for women than many peer facilities. It was also a significant upgrade from the offices in Halsey Gym, which now is called Halsey Hall.

Moment No. 19: Iowa broke the record for highest two-day attendance in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament with 23,096 fans in 2019.

Moment No. 22: For the first time in program history, Iowa field hockey rose to No. 1 in the country. That led to a memorable showdown between the No. 1 and No. 2 teams a few weeks later with Lisa Bluder and others rushing the field at the end.

Moment No. 26: The Iowa City Community School District names its North Liberty elementary school after Title IX pioneer and former Iowa women’s athletics director Christine Grant.

Moment No. 28: Lisa Bluder has a “magical” first season at Iowa, leading a group that won only nine games in 1999-00 to a Big Ten tournament title in 2000-01.

More than 300 people gathered at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday to celebrate Christine Grant’s life and legacy. The crowd included former players, coaches she hired over a quarter-century and athletic administrators from around the country.

Moment No. 42 in The Gazette’s 50 Iowa moments since Title IX series is Iowa hiring Lisa Bluder as women’s basketball head coach in 2000. She faced some obstacles leading up to that moment.

Iowa women’s basketball head coach Lisa Bluder had some initial concerns about NIL, but now she asks “why should they not” get these opportunities to make money and develop “so many business skills.”

As The Gazette counts down the top 50 moments in Iowa women’s athletics history ahead of the 50th anniversary of Title IX, No. 45 is Lisa Bluder’s 270th win at Iowa —more wins than any other coach in Iowa basketball history.