At long last, it seems like everything is starting to come together for the Iowa women’s basketball team.
The Hawkeyes played a nearly flawless first half on Thursday, and survived a late push from Purdue to pick up a huge 83-74 win. Iowa is now 21-5 on the season and 12-3 in Big Ten play, one game back of the Michigan Wolverines, a team that the Hawkeyes will welcome to Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Sunday.
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There was a lot to like from Thursday’s win, and a few things for head coach Jan Jensen to work with before Sunday’s massive tilt against Michigan. Here are the biggest takeaways from Iowa’s road victory over Purdue.
The Stremshow takes over
Taylor Stremlow has officially arrived, and it couldn’t come at a better time for Iowa. The sophomore guard was outstanding in the first half, scoring a career-high 19 points on almost perfect shooting from the field. She would finish the night with those 19 points on 7-10 shooting, to go along with two steals and eight assists, which tied her career best.
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In the absence of Taylor McCabe, the Hawkeyes have been looking for someone to fill her role in the starting lineup. Stremlow seems to fit that bill, and she’s playing the best basketball of her Iowa career recently. Her playing at this level consistently raises the ceiling of what this team can accomplish in March. When she’s playing as she did on Thursday, Iowa will be a tough out for anyone they take on in postseason play.
Journey Houston steps up
Iowa got dealt some bad news just a few hours before tip-off on Thursday, as senior forward Hannah Stuelke was ruled out with an upper-body injury. With one of their leaders and best players unavailable, Iowa turned to freshman Journey Houston to make her first career start. And she paid off the trust of her coaching staff in a massive way.
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Houston had a career-best 16 points in the win, to go along with five rebounds. Half of those points came in the fourth quarter, as Iowa tried to put Purdue away after they made a strong push in the third. Thursday night continued a strong stretch of games for Houston, who has scored in double figures in five of Iowa’s last eight games. The future is bright for the freshman, but don’t overlook her ability to make an immediate impact now.
Ava Heiden does it all
Ava Heiden was fantastic once again on Thursday, continuing her push to make an All-Big Ten team this season. The sophomore center filled up the box score against Purdue, with 21 points, 13 rebounds, three assists, and three steals in the win. She was an efficient 10-12 from the field, which will improve her already impressive near 64% shooting on the season.
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Heiden’s development this season has been nothing short of magical. She showed flashes of great play as a freshman last year, but not many expected her to be this good, this soon. She’s the best player on a top-15 team in the nation, scoring at will, cleaning up the boards, and playing decent defense as well. Jensen is known for her development of post players, and Heiden is another success story there.
Still some room for improvement
While things couldn’t have gone much better in the first half for Iowa, their level of play slipped a bit in the back half of the game. The Hawkeyes were outscored 42-32 in the second half, as the Boilermakers tried to climb back into the game after being in an early hole. It was a disappointing half for Iowa, who couldnt seem to put away a team near the bottom of the Big Ten standings.
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It seemed like Iowa lacked some focus in the second half, which makes sense considering how big a lead they built in the first. While they got away with it against Purdue, that could come back to bite them against better competition going forward. This is the type of game that could serve as a great learning experience for Iowa to not let the foot off the gas, even with a comfortable lead.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Takeaways as Iowa women’s basketball cruises to win vs. Purdue
