Top defensive Iowa girls basketball stats

Iowa basketball continues to make waves. On Feb. 2, with Caitlin Clark in attendance for her jersey retirement, Hawkeyes girls’ basketball stats grew in lore as they defeated fourth-ranked USC in the Big Ten upset of the season.

What players join Caitlin Clark as Hawkeye Greats?

The Hawkeyes ​​turned the game into quite the tribute for Clark, whose number was raised to the rafters after the upset. 

Iowa has always had a solid team on defense. Since 2009-10, the Hawkeyes usually hold their opponents to between 66 and 72 points per game. The lone season that deviated was 2020-21 when they allowed 80.3 ppg.

Top girls basketball players in Iowa

Clark is the all-time leader among players in Hawkeye State basketball history.  Hawk Central offered up a top 10 in August. Behind Clark was Megan Gustafson (2,804 points from 2015-19), Monika Czinano (four-time All Big Ten), and Michelle Edwards, the first player to have her jersey retired.

Girls basketball scoring leaders in Iowa

Clark is the all-time leading scorer in women’s hoops. Gustafson is second followed by Czinanao. Ally Distenhoft is fourth on the list with Cindy Haugejorde fifth.

Clark is more than 1,100 points ahead of Gustafson.

The Clark Factor

Iowa was a solid team on the national scene. However, it didn’t blossom into a national powerhouse until Clark. The Hawkeyes were runners-up in 2023 and 2024 in the big dance. Before that, the lone Final Four appearance was in 1993.

Clark spoke about what being a Hawkeye and having her jersey retired meant.

“You kind of just have those butterflies in your stomach when you walk in here,” Clark said while meeting with the media before Sunday’s game. “Not so much for a basketball game now, but obviously just to be around everybody and to enjoy this environment.”

“Definitely, you are a little bit more vulnerable. I don’t have to go and compete for 40 minutes, even though I wish maybe I could. Just very grateful and fortunate… feel very lucky that a lot of my former teammates and former coaches are here and able to support me, and a lot of friends and family.”

Who is Iowa’s rival in basketball?

While it isn’t in the same conference as the Hawkeyes, Iowa State is one of Iowa’s biggest rivals in all sports. The games between the schools are known as the Cy Hawk rivalry. For fans looking to bet on these intense matchups or other NCAA women’s basketball games, be sure to check out the latest NCAA women’s basketball lines and odds.

Outside of Iowa State, with Clark on the team a rivalry developed with LSU thanks to Angel Reese. Illinois is a Big Ten rival of the Hawkeyes but that can change from season to season depending on how much ill will occur in conference play.

When did Women’s basketball go to full court in Iowa?

This is fascinating information. In 1970, 20% of the women’s basketball players in the USA were from Iowa. The game was a half-court experience with many decades of six-on-six play.  

The contest was played with three guards and three forwards. Neither side could cross the center line. There was a limit of two dribbles and you had three seconds to pass or shoot the ball. That’s a different kind of three-second violation for sure.

“They had the market cornered,” Jennifer Sterling, a lecturer in the Department of American Studies at the University of Iowa and a speaker on girls’ 6-on-6 basketball for Humanities Iowa, told NEH.gov. 

The University of Iowa went to five-on-five full-court play in 1971. The 20% dominance of Iowa women playing hoops whittled to 5.8% after Title IX was passed.

What NBA team is in Iowa?

There is no NBA team in Iowa. However, there is an NBA G-League team, the Iowa Wolves. The Wolves became a said team in 2017-18. Previously, they were known as Iowa Energy starting in 2007.

IowaEventsCenter offers some history on the Energy/Wolves:

  • The Energy captured four division titles and the NBA D-League Championship in 2011.
  • Twenty Energy players and three coaches received Call-Ups from NBA teams.
  • The Iowa Wolves set the franchise single-season attendance record, averaging 4,148 fans per game over 24 games, drawing nearly 100,000 fans to Wells Fargo Arena with a total attendance of 99,552 fans. The previous single-season mark was set in 2017-18, the first year of the Iowa Wolves franchise.

How many times has Iowa state beaten Iowa in basketball?

Iowa and Iowa State have played 50 times since 1975 in women’s basketball. The Iowa State Cyclones have won 20 of those games. Iowa State had a winning streak of five games in the rivalry once and a losing stretch of 10 games. The Cyclones are 13-9 at home and  5-19 on the road when the schools clash in women’s hoops. There have also been neutral court games, accounting for the overall difference.