Jeff Linder

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: When Iowa recruit Ava Jones was severely injured last summer, Louisville Coach Jeff Walz stepped up, for Lisa Bluder and for the Jones family.

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: As the Hawkeyes keep winning, Megan Gustafson keeps watching from Greece. ‘The Final Four is history; I think they’re going to get it done.’

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: Iowa’s ability to run in transition, from guards to posts, is “unheard of,” according to Colorado coach JR Payne.

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: Caitlin Clark spearheaded a telling 13-0 third-quarter run, propelling the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes to an 87-77 regional-semifinal win over No. 21 Colorado on Friday at Climate Pledge Arena.

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: New format and sites force teams and fans to ramp up the travel, especially to Seattle.

NCAA women’s basketball tournament notebook: Cedar Rapids native Shelley Sheetz is comfortable as an assistant at Colorado. “You move over six inches to where the head coach sits, and that seat is on fire.”

When Iowa Coach Lisa Bluder was asked Thursday for a season-defining moment, she didn’t point to any of the Hawkeyes’ 28 victories. The spark for the late-season run came in a lopsided loss at Maryland.

The Gazette's John Steppe and Jeff Linder break down the Iowa women's basketball team's NCAA second-round win over Georgia and the road to the Final Four on this episode of the Hawk Off The Press podcast.

Prep volleyball: Cedar Rapids Prairie turns to Claude Howard, who won 293 matches and reached eight state tournaments at Springville.

NCAA women’s basketball tournament: ‘Onward we go ... ’ Iowa is the favorite among the remaining Seattle 4 Region survivors. Hawkeyes face Colorado on Friday, then it’s Louisville and giant-killer Ole Miss.

Boys’ track and field: Led by high-jumper Derek Weisskopf and a stable full of speedy sprinters, Williamsburg rates as an early favorite in Class 2A

A Gazette area watch list of top teams and individuals for the 2023 Iowa high school boys’ track and field season.

Girls’ track and field: Cascade’s Devin Simon is a 5-foot-5 four-stepper, but counters with power and a ‘bulldog’ mentality to make her one of the top hurdlers in Class 2A.

A Gazette area watch list of top teams and individuals for the 2023 Iowa high school girls’ track and field season.

A day after Georgia Coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson referred to Gabbie Marshall as “the cute little one with the ... cute eyes, pretty eyes,” Marshall showed her shooter’s eyes, knocking down five 3-pointers in Iowa’s 74-66 win.