Iowa’s teammates and coaches have known for some time about the tremendous potential that sophomore forward Hannah Stuelke possesses.
There’s been plenty of glimpses along the way. Most notably, Stuelke’s 47-point eruption against Penn State in early February showcased just how great she could be at Iowa. At the time, that set a Carver-Hawkeye Arena scoring record.
On Friday night, America saw Stuelke’s star power front and center in the Iowa Hawkeyes‘ 71-69 Final Four victory over UConn. The 6-foot-2 forward poured in a game-high 23 points on a 9-for-12 shooting day.
Stuelke went toe-to-toe with one of the nation’s best bigs, too. The Cedar Rapids product showed she belonged right next to UConn star senior forward Aaliyah Edwards.
Iowa doesn’t beat UConn without the play of Stuelke. She was tremendous. Afterwards, Iowa star guard Caitlin Clark couldn’t help but rave about Stuelke’s performance against the Huskies.
“I think Hannah’s tremendous, and I think it’s just the confidence and belief. I think tonight she played with an energy about herself of she really could go in there and dominate. She goes toe to toe with Aaliyah Edwards, who in my mind is one of the best players in the country. It was physical with her. Guarded her well. Boxed her out. And she wasn’t afraid to take it at her either, I thought.
“When they subbed in some post players off the bench, Hannah continued to go at them. And I’m just super happy for Hannah. She’s worked so hard to be in this moment. She goes 5-for-7 from the free-throw line, made some big free throws for us. But yeah, she was definitely a difference maker. I think this is the Hannah we all know. Just having that confidence within herself because we all have it in her, so just super happy for her,” Clark said of Stuelke’s big night.
Iowa head women’s basketball coach Lisa Bluder echoed those thoughts, noting that Stuelke got the honors of placing Iowa’s name on the bracket postgame that demonstrated how the Hawkeyes had advanced back to another national championship game.
“You know, we elected her to put on the Iowa, slap that on the chart tonight to go to the championship game. We just kept telling her how good she was. Honestly, the only thing that stopped her from being great was her own self. It was her own doubt.
And she is a beautiful athlete, an explosive athlete, and she just held herself back. And so we’re trying to talk to her about positive self-talk instead of negative self-talk, and kept pouring into her about you can do this. You can be such a beast if you want to be. And so I’m just so pleased with her growth tonight. She just took, as a sophomore, and a young sophomore, she took another big leap tonight,” Bluder said.
As Stuelke splashes onto the national conscious with her breakout performance against the Huskies, she pointed back to her teammates’ trust and confidence in her as the big reason why it was possible.
“I think the confidence is everything. Especially hearing Caitlin Clark talk about me like that, it gives me a confidence boost. I think anyone would say that. But, they just fed me the ball very well, and the ball was going in for me tonight,” Stuelke said.
Iowa will need another strong performance from Stuelke in order to capture the Hawkeyes’ first-ever national championship.
South Carolina (37-0, 16-0 SEC), the Hawkeyes’ opponent in the national championship game, features star center Kamilla Cardoso who stands 6-foot-7 and averages a team-high 14.3 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
Iowa battles South Carolina at 2 p.m. on Sunday on ABC from inside Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland.
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