Lucy Olsen leads Iowa with 19 points in her official Hawkeye debut
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IOWA CITY — On a night that began with the unveiling of Iowa women’s basketball’s 2023-24 Final Four banner, the Hawkeyes showed some imperfections in the start of the quest for its next banner.
But the reigning national runner-up ultimately did enough to walk away with a 91-73 win over Northern Illinois in Wednesday’s season opener at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Villanova transfer guard Lucy Olsen led Iowa in her first (official) game as a Hawkeye with 19 points on 9-of-17 shooting. She was especially efficient in the third quarter, when she had eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and three assists.
Fellow guard Teagan Mallegni had also quite the Hawkeye debut, as the 6-foot-1 freshman scored 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Guards Kylie Feuerbach and Taylor McCabe also finished with double-digit point totals.
Addison O’Grady, starting at center over freshman standout Ava Heiden, had 12 points on an efficient 5-for-6 shooting.
Northern Illinois, meanwhile, shot 49 percent against the Hawkeyes. The Huskies suffered 25 turnovers versus 15 assists against Iowa’s defense.
Iowa did not always make it look easy against Northern Illinois — a team that only won by two against Louisiana earlier this week.
The Hawkeyes missed eight consecutive shots in the first quarter and was trailing Northern Illinois at points in the first and second quarter.
But then the reigning national runner-up finally distanced itself with a 14-0 run in the second quarter and maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the night.
Iowa has now won 25 consecutive season openers.
The win is Jan Jensen’s first as head coach after taking over for longtime friend and mentor Lisa Bluder earlier this year.
The road is about to get more difficult for the Jensen-led Hawkeyes as they travel to Charlotte to play Virginia Tech in the Ally Tipoff on Sunday.
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