Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball


The Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team represents the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. The team is a member of the Big Ten Conference as well as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The team plays its regular season games at 15,400-seat Carver-Hawkeye Arena, along with men's basketball, wrestling, and volleyball teams.

History

Iowa women's basketball began in 1974, under head coach Lark Birdsong. The first Iowa team finished 5–16 in 1974-75, its first victory over the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Birdsong coached Iowa until 1978-79, which marked Iowa's first winning season. Birdsong was subsequently replaced by Judy McMullen, who led the program for the next four years. McMullen was succeeded in 1983 by former Cheyney University coach C. Vivian Stringer. Prior to her stay at Iowa, Stringer led the Cheyney Wolves to the 1982 NCAA championship.
Beginning with the 1983–84 season, Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Stringer coached at Iowa for 12 seasons. In that time, the Hawkeyes won six Big Ten championships, played in nine NCAA Tournaments, and reached the Final Four in 1993. Unprecedented attention was shown to the Hawkeyes under Stringer, as evidenced by the record-setting 22,157 fans that watched Iowa play Ohio State on February 3, 1985, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Stringer, however, left Iowa to coach at Rutgers in 1995, following the death of her husband, Bill.
Angie Lee replaced Stringer, and led the Hawkeyes to a Big Ten championship in her first season. Under Lee, Iowa won another Big Ten title in 1998. In 2000, Lee's successor as head coach was Lisa Bluder. Bluder is Iowa's current women's basketball coach. Under Bluder, the Hawkeyes have won one regular season Big Ten championship and two Big Ten Tournament championships.
From 2015 to 2019, Megan Gustafson has played for Coach Bluder and the women’s basketball program at Iowa. Gustafson was named the 2019 National Player of the year, after averaging a double-double of 27.8 points and 13.4 rebounds on 69.9% shooting. The 2018–19 Iowa Hawkeyes women's basketball team had a 29-7 regular season record, winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship and advancing to the Elite Eight of the 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.

NCAA Tournament results

Retired numbers